Heroes of Dreamland, Book 1: Kirby and the Monstrous Lightning
by ebearskittychan
Summary: A tale about an extraordinary Waddle Dee, a couple of Star Warriors, a penguin king and his adorable minions, the king's annoying right-hand snail, an evil monster made of electricity, and the epic quest this Waddle Dee must go on to save Dreamland. Written by a Kirby fan (Rated PG for mild fantasy violence and some somewhat scary elements.) (Please read my bio for better summary)
1. The Beginning of It All

Hi. I'm a Waddle Dee. A girl Waddle Dee, to be specific. And the only girl Waddle Dee, as far as I know. I don't have a name, really. I'm known by some as Kirby Dee, Super Dee, or sometimes just Sakura Dee, or by my friends as just Sakura. (That one's my favorite.)

How am I writing this, you ask? How does a Waddle Dee have this high a level of intelligence? Well, for one, we are actually a quite intelligent race, even if we can't talk to you guys. We're telepathic, for one thing, (but only with each other,) and we are very talented household servants. (As Dedede has demonstrated quite well.) But we can't write or read, because Dedede won't let us learn.

So we all follow that rule. All except for me, and I only got to break it because of the extraordinary events that happened in my life.

This is my story. It might not have the happiest ending, it might not be perfect, but it's the truth. And it's your choice whether or not to read it.

But I hope you do.

**Author's note:**

**Hey, just wanted to say something.**

**First of all, thanks to the amazing Galaxy_Artemis for the awesome picture on the cover! Please check out her stories/ give her a follow!**

**Next, this story is taking place a few years after the final battle against Nightmare, so Dreamland's been at peace for awhile. Just to tell you where in the timeline it falls.**

**Also, it takes place in an universe parallel to the one the anime/games happen in, so a few things are different. Such as, Meta Knight's eyes turn a light green when amused, instead of pink. Also, because of really complicated time system that exists within the story (it's explained over time!) Meta Knight's a lot younger than he seems to be in the anime. (So in other words, not thousands of years old. A whole lot younger than that, actually, but I don't really have an exact age here at the beginning of the story. Again, you'll learn that later on.) The other major difference in this story is that all Star Warriors are of the same species as Kirby and Meta Knight. (I'm using Star Warrior as a species name, not as a group of soldiers. So even if they aren't actually a warrior, a member of their species is a Star Warrior, and most of the soldiers that were in the army of Star Warriors were a member of this species, although there were plenty of exceptions. [Garlude, Joseph (Knuckle Joe's Father,) etc...])**

**I know some people might not appreciate that I'm doing things a little bit differently than they have been done, but that's the epic thing about Nintendo. Each different set of characters has an infinite number of stories that can be told about them, in an infinite number of ways. That's an amazing thing, and it's something that one should take a moment to step back and think about.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story (all of the books) as much as I've been enjoying writing it. :D**


	2. Opening Cutscene

Once, I was just a normal Waddle Dee.

Well, almost normal. All the others were boys, for one, and for two, they just accepted life the way it was. Not me. I was curious. I was stubborn. Escargoon (or Slug Boy, as I thought of him) couldn't stand me. Although he never knew I was just one of the 3,452 of us, he really disliked me, because I had trouble obeying. The King never even noticed me, even at the times when I was told to stand guard, and ended up pondering a butterfly, for example.

All the other Waddle Dee couldn't understand me. "Why do you do that?" they would ask. "Why can't you just be as we are, content with our lives?"

And I always answered the same way: "I don't know."

If there was something out of the ordinary, I wanted to understand it.

If someone treated me unfairly, I wanted them to know about it.

But, for the first 16 or so years of my life, I couldn't really do anything about it. It didn't really help that even though I wanted to understand things, I could be a bit of an airhead.

But all that changed one day.

Far off in space, a great force was awakening. This force, the Monstrous Lightning, wanted to have the universe as his own. And, like all badguys it seems, he chose to start with Planet Popstar and Dreamland.

He looked like a great spark floating in the vacuum of space, pondering where his quest to conquer all should start. Just then, a meteor bumped into him. With a huff of impatience, this spark batted it away into space, sending it hurdling, electrified and with a terrible power, straight to my planet. In a lazily evil sort of way, he decided to slowly follow.

Later that day, a horrible storm came upon the planet, worse than any recorded in any of our books, Meta Knight claimed. (I only know this was said because I was guarding the King at the time.) King DeDeDe just huffed and sent him away, then continued stuffing his face with snackerdoodle cookies. I think Meta Knight might have stolen one, but that's not important.

Late that night, I helped with the laundry under an overhang. While I was trying to stay dry and non-fried, a tiny star appeared in the sky. I wished with all my heart to be able to speak my ideas aloud and learn more, to actually begin to be something special. The other Waddle Dee all just laughed at me in their minds.

The star seemed to instantly change directions in the sky at my wish and come closer and closer. The others began to get nervous, finally scattering as it hurtled towards us through the sky and came past the castle wall. I just stood and watched, admiring the intricate craters and cracks on its surface, until it literally hit me.

Everything went dark.


	3. World 1, Level 1

Kirby was happily wandering around the castle, looking for Maxim Tomatoes and strawberry shortcake. He was happy and thinking that aside from the storm all was well. But then he suddenly noticed that all the Waddle Dees were urgently jumping up and down around something, obviously distressed. He ambled toward them, happily singing "poyo, poyo," not noticing that they all scattered from him in fear.

A bolt of lightning came down from the sky and, narrowly missing it, still acting happy-go-lucky, he inhaled it. With a joyful "Hai-yah!" he became Spark Kirby, so that he wouldn't get hurt if more lightning came down.

When he got to the spot where the Waddle Dee had been, all that was there was a large rock. He huffed (no strawberry shortcake here,) and began to walk away. But then he saw a Waddle Dee's foot sticking out from under the rock, barely twitching. With a look of surprise and compassion, he used his Copy Ability to blow the rock apart. Carefully dodging all the lightning from the sky, he carried the Waddle Dee to safety under an overhang. All of the other Waddle Dee looked out from around a corner, cautiously observing.

Poking at the Waddle Dee, trying to get it to wake up, he became concerned when it no longer twitched or anything. He sat down and thought for a moment, then, a lightbulb appeared over his head. He rubbed his hands together, creating a large surge of electricity. After first looking around himself, he shouted "Clear, poyo!" and touched the Waddle Dee, who was shocked back to life. As soon as it saw who he was, it started to shake in fear. Then, it did an unheard-of thing. _It let out a squeak._ And then it ran off, just as fast as its comically large yellow-orange feet could carry it.

Kirby frowned in confusion. "Poyo, wait, poyo!" he called out. When it, of course, didn't, he sucked in air and began to float silently and quickly through the air. Moments later, he had caught up to the frightened Waddle Dee. He floated down and scooped it gently up into his arms.

Apparently, though, gentleness wasn't enough. The Waddle Dee struggled uselessly in his hands. However, it realized getting out was impossible. And then, without using a mouth or anything, it shrieked out in anger, "Put me down, bozo!"

"POYO?!" Kirby squawked and dropped it in amazement.

The Waddle Dee somehow inhaled a nearby feather that had been flying through the gusts of wind through its face, getting the Wing Copy Ability. It flapped its new-found lighter-than-Kirby-pink wings and landed gracefully. "H-how did I do that?" it gasped. Kirby guessed it was a girl from how its voice sounded, although any Waddle Dee would probably sound fairly girl-like.

He waddled over to her, and she nervously held up a wing, ready to strike. "No. No fight, poyo," he said, shaking his head. He tapped her on the tip of the wing. "Girl, poyo? Talk, poyo? How, poyo?"

The Waddle Dee frowned deeper, then looked surprised. "You can hear me? Um, yes, I'm a girl, and yes, I can apparently talk, and no, I have no idea how."

Kirby shook his head in wonder. "Meta Knight, poyo."

The Waddle Dee rolled her eyes. "I don't think Meta Knight has anything to do with it." She ran back under the overhang, quite quickly for a Waddle Dee. Kicking out the Copy Ability, she returned to looking like normal, only her eyes seemed much more intelligent than they had been a while before.

Kirby caught up to her and continued, "No. Talk Meta Knight, poyo."

The Waddle Dee shuddered. "Talk to Meta Knight? So he can chop me up with that magic sword of his? No, thank you."

Kirby rolled his little blue eyes and inhaled her before she could argue more. Struggling to keep her in his mouth without swallowing, he ran through the castle to Meta Knight's training room. Throwing open the door, he came face-to-face with Meta Knight, whose eyes were glowing an irritated orange.

"Why do you dare to disturb my training?" Meta Knight huffed, pointing Galaxia at Kirby. "Do you seek a duel?"

Kirby shook his head and spat the Waddle Dee out, who started sputtering. "Why did you try to eat me, you bozo? That was disgusting! I can't-" Her eyes grew huge as she saw Meta Knight. "Yikes!" she yelped and inhaled a sword off a weapons rack as quickly as she could. Becoming Sword Waddle Dee, she pointed it at Meta Knight. "You're not turning me into sushi, at least not without a fair fight!" she declared, determined, but her fear-filled eyes betrayed her.

Meta Knight's eyes glowed a medium green in curiosity. "How can you talk?" Then, his eyes a lighter green of amusement, he chuckled. "Never mind. If it is a fight that you want, little one, it is a fight you are going to get."

She gulped, terrified, as he stalked towards her. Then, she closed her eyes as she heard his sword _whoosh_ through the air...


	4. World 1, Level 2

She suddenly heard a clang, followed by a grunt of frustration from Meta Knight. Cautiously opening one eye, she was astonished to see that she had somehow parried his strike and was, for the moment, holding him off.

"Beginner's luck," he harrumphed, launching another attack at her.

She narrowed her eyes in determination and blocked it, then sent an attack towards him.

"You wish," she murmured, as he gazed at her in wonder.

"This cannot be," he mused, his eyes a deep green of confusion and surprise. He swung around her and tried to attack from the back, but she somehow blocked him again. She seemed to smile, gaining confidence.

"Attacking from the back? That's low, even for you, Sir Knight," she chuckled as she swung her sword in an attempt to knock Galaxia out of his hand. She was getting into this.

"Ah, I see you know me. Now it is my turn. Both to ask a question, and to attack," he replied as he swung towards her face. She parried again. "Who are you? And who do you work for? And how do you do this, when you are just a simple little Waddle Dee?" he questioned in between attacks.

"Hey, I only asked _one_ question, which you didn't even answer," she humphed. "And there's no need to insult me." Finally succeeding in knocking his sword out of his hand, she pointed her sword at his mask.

"Please, do not remove my mask," he almost whispered. "I do not deserve that level of disgrace."

Muttering "Weirdo," she rolled her eyes and lowered her sword. "Can we say that I've won?"

"Of course. I have been bested. By a Waddle Dee, no less," he murmured in shame.

She sat down on the floor and kicked out the Copy Ability, leaving the sword laying on the ground next to her again. "Again with the insults? Waddle Dee are pretty strong creatures, you know. And we're not simple. We can communicate with each other telepathically. It's sort of like we're all one big mind, working together."

"Is that so?" he mumbled, pondering this new piece of information as he got up and dusted himself off.

Munching on an apple he had left on a table, figuring she could call it her prize if he objected, she paused between bites and continued. "And to answer your questions, my name is, um... well, I don't really have one. Other than Stupid, Moron, Pathetic, Simpleton, Squirt, etc., etc. Speaking of which, I work for King DeDeDe, like any other Waddle Dee. And to answer your final question, I have no idea how I've been doing all this."

Meta Knight looked at her, his eyes glowing their normal yellow. "So you do not know?" he asked. Then, his eyes suddenly flashed red. "You are one of the king's monsters, are you not? You have taken over this innocent Waddle Dee."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she exclaimed, waving her hands around urgently. "No, I'm just a regular Waddle Dee, or I was, anyway. I'm still one, I just seem to be able to talk. And other stuff." Then with a murmur of sad surprise, she added, "And I can't hear the other Waddle Dee anymore. I'm alone. It's so... quiet." She sighed. "I can feel them still, but I can't hear them."

He closed his eyes in deep thought. "Has anything out of the ordinary, unusual, happened to you recently?"

Harrumphing, forgetting about this newly discovered loneliness for the moment, she replied, "Unusual? No. Cruel and unusual, such as being forced to work outside, at night, in a horrible storm, with water, which is great at conducting electricity; yes." Then she thought for a second. "Well, I guess there was something weird. While I was working on laundry in said miserable conditions, there was a comet. It was electrified somehow, I think. And I was watching it, thinking it was ever so amazing, when it hit me. And that's all I can remember, before Kirby here shocked me back to consciousness with Spark and I started running away."

The two looked over at Kirby, who was messing around with a spear. Trying to pull off a move without using a Copy Ability, he swung around and fell over, breaking a precious-looking vase in the process. Looking up and seeing the two glaring at him, each for a different reason, he giggled apologetically and put down the spear.

"So," Meta Knight mused as he turned back to her. "Was it the comet that did this to you, or Kirby?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. Then, as her face changed to a look of determination, she added, "What I do know is, now that I have this power, I'm gonna go boss around DeDeDe and Slug Boy. I'm gonna make them pay for what they've done to us Waddle Dee."

Meta Knight glared at her, his eyes red again, now with a cloud of irritation over his head. "I disagree with the king's treatment of your kind-"

"People," she interrupted, indignantly.

"Fine then, people. But still, you have this amazing power, and you are going to use it for harm? Is that really what a peaceful Waddle Dee would want to do? Although you are different from the others, do you not care even a mite what they would think?"

She sighed and relaxed. "I guess you're right. But the way they order us around, like we're their slaves... of course, all of the others are perfectly happy with our lives. Serving is what they live for. But me... I want to know and understand things. I don't want to be just a servant, I want to be something more than that."

His eyes changed to a sympathetic blue, the angry cloud disappearing. "I see. Maybe we will find something to explain all this in the library. Come!" he ordered, then, as if remembering something, he tossed her back the sword she had used a moment earlier. "Arm yourself. 'Slug Boy,' as you called him, will be less likely to interfere with us if you have a sword." He gave a soft laugh, shaking his head. "He would probably be so dumbfounded to see an armed, determined Waddle Dee that he would just stare at you in that ignorant, arrogant way of his."

"All right, Sir Knight," she nodded, inhaling the sword. "You're probably right. You seem to tend to be."

He nodded, half-listening. "What shall I call you?" he inquired, half to her and half to himself, as they walked quickly out of the training room and toward the library.

"Kirby, Kirby, poyo!" Kirby sang happily as he waddled past, on his way to the kitchen. As soon as he had heard there were going to be boring, dusty old books involved, he had lost interest in this occasion.

"Kirby..." Meta Knight murmured almost silently, then gasped. Turning around suddenly and pointing at her, he shouted in amazement, "You! You are the Kirby Dee!"

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "Kirby Dee? Well, that name makes sense, I guess, but what does that mean? Why are you so amazed?"

"Come, I forget how it all goes. But it has something to do with the storm, and now it is even more urgent to get to the library!" Nervously, he broke out in a run that she could barely keep up with.

"You know, this isn't the way to the library," she called ahead to him, huffing and puffing. "I should know, I spend at least a tenth of my time dusting never-touched books."

He chuckled. "Not the king's library, little one. My library."


	5. World 1, Level 3

Meta Knight led her through so many dark hallways and down so many spiral staircases that eventually she didn't know where she was anymore. "I don't think I've ever cleaned down here..." she mused nervously.

"The king never comes down here, so it would be pointless," he shrugged, turning into a door on their right.

Rolling her eyes, she retorted, "The king never really goes anywhere, aside from the dining room and the throne room. _All_ our cleaning is pointless."

He chuckled. "Anyway." His eyes glowed an amused green as he led her to a desk.

She looked at him incredulously. "This is your library? A desk."

He reached out and knocked a vase off of the object currently in discussion, which she caught before it fell to the floor. "No, it is not," he informed her as a door opened in the wall.

He led her in, through a dark tunnel and up several sets of staircases, where they walked through a door and-

"Wow..." she murmured in amazement. It echoed through the somehow well-lit room: "Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow."

It was huge, two stories, and every wall crammed with books. "What? How? When?" she stuttered.

"This room has been here for hundreds of years, but I turned it into a library only shortly after my arrival here, so many years ago. I use it as a place to keep these books safe from the king's crazy "sell-everything-worth-anything" stints," he explained, then led her past bookcase after bookcase.

"I have books on magic, power, evil, good, hate, love, history, literature, poetry, art, fighting, peace, even some cookbooks."

"You saved cookbooks?" she asked him in disbelief.

He shrugged, and with a smile in his voice, replied, "I could not bear the thought of a world without cookies."

"The great and powerful Meta Knight cares about cookies?" she muttered, but he cleared his throat and looked at her in a way that said 'shut up.' "Yes, sir," she sighed.

"I also have books on what we need to know. Let us see... 'The Prophecies of the Star Warriors.' Kirby and I are both in there, you may be too," he muttered, pulling it out and handing it to her. "'Threats to Dreamland.' I do not think you would be in there, but..." He pulled it out too.

They went on this way, until, with around fifteen books piled high over her head, he sat them both down at a table and handed her one. She looked at him in confusion. "Um, I can't read."

He stared at her. "You cannot?"

She shook her head. "Servants aren't supposed to be smart. They get 'ideas.' Woooooo!" she murmured creepily, waving her hands around like a ghost. Settling down, she announced, "I like being able to talk."

He looked at her, his eyes still green in amusement, but they quickly returned to his normal yellow. "All right, then," he sighed, picking up a book. She waited as he read, looking at the paintings on the wall. At one point she opened a book, causing a sneezing fit from the dust inside.

"You really need some Waddle Dees to dust down here," she coughed after the sneezing had ended. Glancing over at him, she was astonished to notice he seemed to look... fearful. Running back to the desk as quick as she could, she questioned, "What is it?" Then, scared, "Am I a badguy?"

"No," he muttered. "It is not you who is the 'badguy,' although you are very much involved. Here, read this."

She glared at him. "Seriously?"

"Oh, yes. Sorry. I will read it." After clearing his throat, he began, "'Not many years after Kirby comes to our land, a terrible storm will occur. During this storm, a Waddle Dee will be given the powers of a Star Warrior. She will be the only female Waddle Dee that will ever be.

"'This Waddle Dee will carry on her shoulders a huge responsibility. A great monster, full of power, is the one who will give her these abilities, through a rock sent by him through space. It is her task to weaken him, but she will never destroy him.'"

She gulped. "Erm... I think you've got the wrong Waddle Dee."

He looked up at her for a second, emotionless, then returned to the book. "I do not see any other Star Warrior-like Waddle Dees anywhere," he muttered to her. Then, continuing, "'She will not be alone. She will have three friends to help her.'" He closed his eyes and thought. "Kirby, myself, and the king, probably.

"'She will have a time of peace to be trained by the one who wields Galaxia.'" He rolled his eyes. "I know that knights are not ever supposed to be jealous, but I find it annoying that Kirby and my sword are mentioned by name, whereas I never am.

"But, as I was saying. 'After this peace, the monster will come, and Dreamland will be cast into darkness such as it has never known. This Kirby Dee, or Super Dee, as some will call her; will be our only hope.'"

"This isn't fun anymore," she whispered. He looked up at her and saw the expression of sheer terror on her face.

He slammed shut the book. "You will be able to do this," he told her comfortingly, reaching across the desk and patting her hand gently. She looked out one of the huge windows and noticed that the storm had ended, and the full moon was out, bathing the land in a soft light. Thousands upon thousands of twinkling stars dotted the deep blue sky, which was the same color as Meta Knight's Dimensional Cloak, she observed in her head. She had always been very observant of tiny details like that.

"Where does the light in here come from, when it's so dark outside?" she suddenly inquired.

"Magic," he whispered. He chortled quietly as her eyes grew wide. "It is very late. Rest. I will return in the morning, and our training will begin."

After he had left, she lay down on a couch, and almost all of the light instantly disappeared. But she couldn't sleep after the day's excitement, so she got up. Being followed by a sphere of soft light, she pulled out a thin, simple looking book. She sat down and opened it with a sigh of determination. Then, using the few phonics skills she had from listening to Meta Knight's lessons with Kirby, she began to sound out a few simple words, one at a time.


	6. World 1, Level 4

Early the next morning, Meta Knight strode into the library, followed by a chipper Kirby. The room instantly flooded with light, and he looked around, trying to find Kirby Dee. He finally spotted her sitting on one of the bookshelves, back up against the wall and sound asleep. Her hand was resting on a pile of books.

He stood underneath the shelf and called up, "Come, it is time to begin our training."

"Wakey, wakey, poyo!" Kirby sang out. When that didn't work, he floated up to her and blew a puff of air into her face.

She leapt up in surprise, and fell off the shelf onto the floor. "Uuuuunh..." she moaned, her face in the woodwork. Then, in distress, she popped up. "Oh, shoot! I'm late! The king'll want his breakfast and-"

"Calm down," Meta Knight ordered. "The other Waddle Dee will take care of that. You are no longer just a servant, little one."

"What?" she asked in confusion. "I can really talk? That wasn't a dream? I'm really... _free_?"

Kirby giggled. "Silly Waddle, poyo."

Meta Knight's eyes glowed their amused green. It was a happy shade of green, she thought. Like freshly mown grass. "No, it was not a dream, little one. What were you doing up there?"

"What?" she asked blankly. For some reason, she decided not to tell him about her trying to learn to read. Plus, there was one other reason she had been up there, so she would tell him that one. "Oh. Um, I missed sleeping on the shelves with the other Waddle Dee. So I made do with what I had. The couch was too soft."

He looked at her in what was obviously disbelief. She could tell, even if he did have a mask on. "Too soft?"

She blushed and rubbed her head in embarrassment. "Once a househould servant, always a household servant. Right?"

He chuckled. "Well then, Household Servant. Come, your training begins now." He swiftly turned around and walked out.

When they got through the passages back into the main part of the castle, she noticed a group of Waddle Dee. She walked over. "Hi, guys. What are you doing?" They ignored her. "Hey, guys. It's me. I can talk now, but I'm still me. One of you." One of them looked at her for a second, then looked away and waddled off, as if she was just another inhabitant of the castle, one not even worth obeying. "Why are they doing that? It's like I don't exist," she sighed. "Maybe this being-able-to-talk thing isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Kirby gave her a hug. "Friend, poyo!" he comforted her with an adorable grin.

She looked at him gratefully. "I've never had a friend before."

Meta Knight frowned to himself from where he had paused up ahead of them. "Why not? You had all those others. Did they not like you?"

She shrugged, even though he couldn't see her since he had his back to them. "It's not that they _disliked_ me. I was just... different. They didn't understand that. There aren't really friends or enemies among the Waddle Dee. It's sort of like we're all part of one big thing, working together, each part doing what it needs to do to take care of the others."

"Is that so?" he mused, then started walking again.

She looked at Kirby, who giggled. "That's Meta Knight, poyo." She nodded in understanding, and they both followed Meta Knight to the training room.

"It's still dark outside," she yawned as they walked through the door. "I don't even get up this early as a servant, except for when I'm on baking duty."

Meta Knight ignored her. "Get a sword ready," he ordered. She began to inhale one lying on a weapons rack, but he shook his head. "No. You may learn the other Copy Abilities, but the sword you will learn on its own. It will serve you well when there are no foes to swallow. Kirby has learned that lesson the hard way a few times, but still; he refuses to learn this art."

Kirby shrugged at her. "Poyo," he nodded in assent.

"All right," she agreed, putting her hands on the sword. It was much harder when she wasn't using a Copy Ability, she quickly discovered. Heavier, too. She grunted as she tried, and failed, to pick it up.

Meta Knight chuckled, still not turning around. "Not as easy as it seems, is it?"

She glared at his back. "Quit laughing at me. I could take you out at any time, just by swallowing this sword. Last night proved that."

He shook his head. "Not necessarily. I was not expecting a Waddle Dee to have any fighting talent. I went quite easy on you."

Her confidence fell. "Oh."

Walking over to a window, he continued, "That is your first lesson. Whereas what I just said is true, you cannot just take what an opponent says at face value. Listening to a foe's taunts will keep you from ever succeeding in battle."

She closed her eyes in concentration. "Okay."

He suddenly drew Galaxia and spun around. "Let us begin."

She opened her eyes, then narrowed them. Looking at him in determination, she declared, "Bring it on, Sir Knight."

He nodded. He slowly circled her, and then suddenly, he swiped. She managed to duck the attack, but not parry. "How much does this thing weigh?" she muttered, barely managing to duck another strike, still struggling to get the weapon off the ground.

"It is not anywhere near as heavy as a tub of laundry. Think of it as one of those," he suggested as he swung at her again, not even breaking a sweat. Kirby sat on a wooden bench, watching them in excitement.

"It was much easier last night," she huffed and puffed.

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy," he replied sagely.

She glared at him. She knew he had had years of practice, but still. He made it look unfairly easy.

_Anything he can do, you can do too. You have to be able to. You're the Kirby Dee._ She told herself mentally, then concentrated. _It's a chore. You can lift a tub of laundry... with help, anyway. But. You can pick this up by yourself. Find your balance, and-_

She suddenly heaved the sword over her head and swung up, managing to parry his next strike. "Good," he nodded. He swung again, and, now that she was actually fighting, he began to truly fight back. With his next attack, he easily knocked her sword out of her hand. "But not good enough."

She sighed. "Again," she ordered.

"Yes," he agreed.

This time, she actually succeeded in picking her sword up right away. She managed to parry a few times, but he quickly knocked her sword away again. "Better," he nodded.

They kept going, and she slowly but surely did get better. After days of practice, rather than just standing in one place, they had begun leaping all over the training room as they dueled.

Kirby continued to observe every day. The day they actually started fighting all over the place, instead of mostly standing still, outside now, he started to laugh. "Dance, poyo, dance!"

They both stopped and stared at the little pink fluffball. He continued to giggle, then inhaled an extra sword lying around and began to mimick what had been happening, spinning and dodging an imaginary opponent's attacks.

She began to giggle, then laugh. "He's right. It does sort of look like a dance."

Meta Knight smiled to himself. "Perhaps. I think this has been enough for the day."

She sighed, dropping the sword to the ground and lying down in the tall grass. "All right."

"Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow, I will begin to teach you a new skill, even as we continue your sword training." He spun around and left, and she soon fell asleep in the sun.

She woke up, startled, around sunset. She frowned, trying to discover what had awakened her. She didn't see anything, so she began to settle back down, eager to continue napping. But soon, she heard a strange rustle nearby. She leapt up and grabbed her sword, then looked around herself nervously...


	7. World 2, Level 1

"Wh-what's there?" she stammered. "Is that you, Meta Knight? Is this a test?" She gulped and gripped the sword tighter.

Something jumped, cackling, out of a tree. "Is that you, Meta Knight?" it repeated snidely, then started cackling again, now so hard it could hardly breathe.

"What are you?" she asked anxiously.

It stepped out of a shadow. "Ooooh, is the weird little Waddle scared?" a little red bird taunted.

She relaxed. "Oh. You're just a Bronto Burt."

"_Just_ a Bronto Burt? I oughta have my friends come after you, Waddle Weird," it sneered, then began flying toward her, poised to attack. She held her sword up, ready to defend herself, but someone wearing a blue bandana hopped out in front of her. Waving a spear around, it scared the Bronto Burt off.

"Hey, hey, buddy. I wasn't really gonna hurt your friend here," the annoying bird muttered as it flew away.

Her rescuer turned toward her and gave a little bow. "Oh, Bandana Dee." She greeted him with the standard Waddle Dee blank stare, which he returned. "Thanks. I could've taken care of myself, but thanks." He tilted his head and closed his eyes, in the Waddle Dee way of smiling. "What are you doing out here? Patrolling?" He shook his head, then beckoned her to follow him. "What? Where do you want me to go?"

He rolled his eyes, then walked over to her and touched his forehead to hers. "What are you doing?" she questioned aloud in confusion.

"Can you hear me?" She suddenly heard in her head, just like before. Just like back when she used to be able to hear all the Waddle Dee.

She frowned and thought back, "Yeah, but how are we doing this?"

"Simple," he thought back. "We're both outcasts, so the only way we can be part of the one mind is if our minds are close together. We can both do this with any Waddle Dee."

"You're an outcast? I'm an outcast?!" she panicked. "No, I can't be an outcast!"

"Calm down, it's not that bad," he comforted her. "I got kicked out for being too independent thinking, like you probably would have been eventually. But, since it didn't come to that, you got kicked out because you became like 'The Pink Devourer.'"

A look of deep sadness came over her face. "I'm an outcast. No wonder I can't hear them. No wonder they won't talk to me..."

"Yeah. I don't think you realize how close you were already, though."

"What do you mean? I was nowhere close to being kicked out," she huffed.

"Yeah, you were. Didn't you notice they weren't letting you help with the kids anymore?" he pointed out.

"Well, maybe that's true. But so what? A lot of the Waddle Dee never help with the kids."

"And you weren't allowed to cook anymore either."

She sighed. He was right. She knew she had somewhat known she was getting close, she had just been telling herself she wasn't. "Great. Thanks for making me depressed."

"Don't be. It's thanks to you I learned to think out of the box, not just be happy with the way things were."

"What?" she asked, confused.

He changed the subject abruptly. "The reason I came to find you is me and Kirby are going to have some fun with DeDeDe and Escargoon. You wanna join us?" he offered.

"Have fun with them how?" she inquired, somewhat suspiciously.

"You'll see. You in?"

She thought about it a second, then shrugged. "Sure."

He pulled back, gave her another 'smile,' then beckoned her to follow him again. This time, she did.

They soon found Kirby, hiding in a room close to the throne room. "So what are we going to do?" she asked, getting a little bit excited.

"This, poyo!" Kirby giggled mischievously, showing her a piece of paper. On it were three stick figures, one pink, one with a blue hat, and one just-plain one. Pointing slowly to each of the three and then to different locations on a map of the castle, Kirby slowly, painstakingly, explained the plan.

"So we're going to have you go in and act like you're looking for treats. When DeDeDe and Slug Boy are distracted, you want me and Bandana Dee, acting like regular Waddle Dee, to come in and put sneezing powder in their tea? Isn't that... juvenile?" she shook her head.

Bandana Dee touched foreheads with her again. "Do you have a better way to have some fun?" he inquired, only semi-seriously.

She thought for a second, then narrowed her eyes mischievously. "Yes, actually, I do," she said aloud.

Like originally planned, Kirby ambled in, happily singing. "Poyo, snacks, poyo!" he grinned when he saw the king's massive pile of teacakes and sandwiches. Kirby Dee, from her spot in the line of guards, looked at him urgently and shook her head. He pouted, but kept moving around randomly until the king, who was busy stuffing his face, noticed him.

"Escargoon, what is that annoying little pink puff doing in here?" he grunted.

"I don't know, Kingy, being an annoying little pink puff, maybe?" Escargoon replied sarcastically.

"Whatever," DeDeDe muttered. "Have one of them stupid Waddle Dee get me some more tea."

"Who are you calling stupid?" she asked indignantly. Since she didn't have a mouth to move, they couldn't tell it was her who was talking. Plus, the Waddle Dee just ignored her, so _they_ weren't blowing her cover.

"Who said that? Did you hear that too?" DeDeDe humphed.

"Yes, yes, I did. But who could've said it?" Escargoon wondered in annoyance.

"_I_ said it, Slug Boy," she announced, like it was obvious.

Kirby grinned from his spot in the corner, then shoved Bandana Dee out in front of the throne.

"Was that you?" DeDeDe asked him. Bandana Dee shook his head and shrugged. But then he pretended to see something above him, causing him to cower in fake fear. "Wh-what's going on?" the king squealed, starting to sound like a little girl.

"I have come... to give you a warning," she continued, ominously. "I am the magical protector of the Waddle Dee. You have treated them unfairly. And so, I have come... to haunt yoooooou!" she finished with a moan.

"AAAAAH!" DeDeDe and Escargoon screamed simultaneously. The king tried to jump into Escargoon's arms as Escargoon tried to leap into his, causing them to run smack into each other and both fall over.

She managed to hold back her laughter, but Bandana Dee and Kirby failed miserably. Bandana Dee's shoulders shook with silent hoots, Kirby rolled around on the floor. It didn't matter, the king and his advisor were too scared out of their wits to notice. "Get Meta Knight!" DeDeDe finally shouted. "Don't let anyone leave this room!"

"Oops," she whispered to herself. Kirby and Bandana Dee both leapt up and ran away through the secret passage they had used to enter. Just before they left, Kirby gave her a 'Good luck, old friend. Nice knowing you.' sort of look. She just kept doing her blank stare to fit in with the other Waddle Dee, even though she wanted to give him the evil eye.

Meta Knight soon showed up. "What is the problem, sire?" he asked, his eyes a normal yellow.

"There's some sort of Waddle Dee ghost haunting me in here! You gotta save me!" His Royal Plumpness pleaded.

Meta Knight's eyes turned red in obvious anger. "What did this ghost sound like?" he inquired, his voice scarily calm.

"Like a ghost!" Escargoon scoffed.

"No, no. Male or female?" he huffed.

DeDeDe thought for a second. "Like a girl, although what does that matter? _There is a ghost in my throne room_!"

Meta Knight spun around. "Kirby Dee," he declared. "Step forward, or you are a coward."

She gulped and waddled slowly towards the trio.

"Come, introduce yourself to the king. And use respect," he ordered tersely.

She nodded, then turned to the throne. "Um, hello. I'm a Waddle Dee. I'm the Kirby Dee. I've been your servant for years, and recently I've learned how to talk." After Meta Knight glared at her, she added, "Sire," and an awkward curtsey.

"Apologize," Meta Knight commanded.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, Your Highness, and for insulting you, Your Chief Advisorness," she squeaked. She wasn't the least bit scared of DeDeDe or his shelled buffoon, but Meta Knight... that was a different story.

"Please, Sire, forgive my new pupil. She has only recently found the ability to talk. She obviously needs to practice controlling that ability," he said pointedly, his gaze shooting invisible daggers at her.

"She's your pupil? What could you possibly want with a scrawny, moronic Waddle Dee?" DeDeDe scoffed, stuffing a cake into his mouth.

Kirby Dee was about to fight back verbally, but Meta Knight spoke first. "Simply to train her to not be moronic and scrawny, Your Highness." He bowed, then beckoned her to follow.

He led her silently to his training room. Once he had shut the door, he turned to her again, his eyes still red. "Why on earth did you do that?"

"I was having some fun scaring the King and Slug Boy with Kirby and Bandana Dee, but those traitors jumped ship before you showed up," she informed him, mad at first. But after he was silent for a moment, she hung her head down in shame.

"Was this plot their idea?" he huffed, turning his back to her.

"No, sir. It was mine. They originally wanted to just put sneezing powder in his tea," she admitted.

He sighed and shook his head. "As my pupil, and as a future hero of Dreamland, I expect you to do better in the future." He turned back to her, his eyes a disappointed orange now. "Remember that your actions reflect back to me," he turned away again. "Go to your place in the library and sleep. I will stay here and decide how you are to be punished tomorrow."

"Yes sir," she whispered, and with her head hanging down, trudged out of the room.

He thought for awhile, then an idea suddenly came to him. He chuckled as he thought of it. If he had judged her personality correctly in the past weeks, which he supposed he had, this plan would work perfectly. And if not, he would think of something else.


	8. World 2, Level 2

After talking to Meta Knight in the training room, Kirby Dee had returned to the secret library. Right before she entered the passage leading to it, Kirby and Bandana Dee had appeared. "Sorry, poyo," Kirby had giggled apologetically.

Bandana Dee had touched his forehead to hers and added, "Yeah. If we could've gotten you out of there without sticking around too long ourselves, we would've. We'll do better on that count next time."

"Yeah, sure," she had replied tersely. "It's okay." Then she had walked into the passage and sort-of slammed the door behind her.

Now she sat on her shelf in the library. She had no idea how late it was, she had sat up reading (or learning to, anyway,) until she was so tired she couldn't concentrate anymore. She was sitting in complete darkness, except for a tiny bit of starlight that came through the windows. The sky was beautiful and clear that night, but she didn't notice. She couldn't sleep, she felt too bad about disappointing Meta Knight. Well, and she was quite a bit concerned about her 'punishment.' _He'll probably tell me what it's going to be in the morning,_ she decided._ I should quit worrying about it._ She turned so she was facing a pile of books instead of the side of the shelf and closed her eyes, but she couldn't relax. Soon the wheels in her head were churning again.

_I didn't even do anything that bad,_ she thought, a little bit irritated. _I guess he does have some sort of code of honor. And he's sworn loyalty to the king and stuff, and probably I should too, but still._ She sighed and snuggled closer to the wall. It had a tendency to be cold in here, even though summer was almost upon them. She wished she had a blanket.

She forced herself to find something to be thankful for, something she had been doing for years. Or so she thought... She, like all other Waddle Dee, had previously had only a few-year long memory span. She finally thought of something good: there hadn't been anymore storms since the day she had received her powers, although there had been some soft spring showers. The weather had for the most part, rather, been perfect and lovely. There hadn't been a single sign that a giant storm monster was coming who-knows-when. She had been wanting to go out and play outside, something she had never been able to do before. But lately, she had always either been training, or when she wasn't doing that, she always was too tired to do much of anything else.

In yet another attempt to settle down, she sang softly to herself. This was a song she had sung in her head as a Waddle Dee many times before, but never aloud. _I wonder if that sounded any good,_ she pondered. _Maybe I'll sing it to Kirby sometime._

The night seemed to drag on forever. She thought day would never come, but Meta Knight finally showed up after what felt like an eternity, seemingly not noticing the tired circles beneath her eyes. She looked at him in a sort of dreading expectancy, but he didn't say a thing about the night before. He just gave her a nod and a "Come. Let us go," before swishing around and leading her out of the room. She hopped down and followed him. At least she had been getting more graceful at getting out of her 'bed.'

They started with a short sparring session, during which she expected him to drive her into the moat or something as her punishment. Then, he led her to the training room, where he began to teach her the art of origami. "What does this have to do with being a hero?" she had asked, looking around nervously, expecting Blade or Sword to come out and challenge her to a paper duel or something. She imagined them throwing origami stars at her like ninja stars, and her having to duck their attacks crazily. _Sheesh, you're starting to get paranoid. He's probably... just... forgotten the whole thing. Yeah. That's gotta be it,_ she thought.

He looked up from his sheet of paper, now a crane, minutes later and finally answered her question. "Every warrior needs to learn not just the art of battle, but also the gentler arts. It is part of the code of honor."

She frowned. "How does knowing how to turn paper into a frog help keep me alive in a fight?" she questioned, disbelievingly.

He shook his head. "It is not the paper that is important, although clearing the head with calm activities is good. Practicing origami helps you learn how to take a situation and 'fold' it, turn it into something else, and use that ability to your advantage." She half-nodded, still not convinced. "Trust me, it will serve you well someday. You just have to be careful not to let your mind get away from you, make yourself believe something bad is happening, when it is not." He gave her a knowing look and chuckled. _Oh, shoot. I don't think he's forgotten. What if he has me... dust his library all by myself? s_he worried.

After he gave up on trying to get her to concentrate on getting her folds right, he decided to teach her how to meditate. Sitting on the training room's section of tatami floor, he told her, "This is another good way to clear your head. Thinking of scenarios where you have to fight, and planning out how you would win them, is a good practice that will help you think quickly later on."

_Or, you can just use it as an excuse to take a nap,_ she thought soon after, when she really thought she heard him snoring. Normally she would have laughed at him, but she was too busy using the quiet time to mentally come up with more and more ridiculous ideas of punishments. _What if he has the Waddle Dee turn me into Kirby Dee soup? No, probably not... What if I'm banished?!_ On and on it went.

After he woke up and acted like he hadn't ever been asleep, he took down a book of poetry and looked at her. "I would ask you to study it, but..."

"I know, I can't read," she mumbled. She would show her progress to him sometime soon, but not yet. Sometime soon when she wasn't quite as frazzled.

"Yes, exactly," he agreed. "So, I will read some to you."

Rather than listening to him, she continued being ridiculous. _He could make me fight a boss myself? Let Kirby inhale me to see what sort of Copy Ability I would turn into? _She shuddered. That was about the worst fate a Waddle Dee could come to.

"What do you think, little one?" she suddenly heard.

"Wait, what?" she asked, snapping her attention (somewhat) back to the present.

"I said, what do you think of those poems? Anything you want to add?" he reiterated.

"Um, no. How... can you add to perfection?" she suggested, and gave a nervous laugh.

He looked at her strangely. "You have not had much of an attention span today. Are you turning back into a regular Waddle Dee?" he teased.

She didn't take it as teasing._ I bet that's what he's done. He's put some sort of a spell on me to turn me back into what I used to be. I didn't even know he could _do_ magic,_ she fretted.

Just then, the door swung open. She gave a little scream and grabbed a chair, the nearest mode of defense. In came a Waddle Dee, who gave her a strange look and gave Meta Knight a pot of hot green tea. "Thank you, little friend," he told it, gesturing for it to leave.

It looked at her again in something resembling fascination, then left again.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm p-perfectly fine," she stammered, shaking a bit. "A bit of a _nervous wreck_, but otherwise fine."

He laughed. Not just a chuckle, a laugh. "I have decided what your punishment is to be," he then announced.

She gulped, hid under the chair, and peeped out. "What?" she asked nervously.

He laughed again. "Well, you needn't worry, it's already been administered."

"Wh-what do you mean?" she squeaked.

"What I mean is, you have quite sufficiently punished yourself. I just helped by giving you plenty of time to fret. I guessed that, giving your personality, you would be the type to overthink things. And it appears I was right, which is typical." He gave her his hand and helped her up. "Now, little one. Tell me, what was the most outrageous idea you came up with?"

She blushed. "I thought you might have me turned into soup," she muttered almost too quietly for him to hear.

He chuckled softly. "You have quite an imagination. It can serve you well, or it can be your greatest enemy. Beware of that."

"Yes, sir," she agreed, embarrassed.

"Now, there is something I want to give you," he said, beckoning her to follow him. He led her to a chest of drawers on the other side of the room, where he took out a pair of gloves and handed them to her.

She gave him a strange look. "I don't have fingers, Sir Knight."

He gestured to them. "Just try them on."

She shrugged and held one over her hand, where it seemed to lock into place. She gasped, and opened and closed the mitten-like glove like it was her own hand. "How?..." she muttered.

"Put the other one on, and I will explain," he told her.

She did so, then laughed with joy. "I have fingers!" she squealed. "Now I can hold a sword easier!"

"Exactly," he nodded. "That is what my hands are actually, too. I am just like you and Kirby, in that in reality I just have little round hands. These magic gloves make everything much easier."

"I can believe it," she giggled from the other side of the room, where she was carefully picking up and putting down random objects, such as a sword, a nunchuk, a small statue of Dedede. (Which looked extremely out-of-place in that room.) She looked up suddenly, and asked anxiously, "Can I ever take them back off?"

"Yes, but you will hardly ever need to. I almost never take mine off. They are just like normal hands, all you need to do is wash them occasionally."

"I see," she murmured in fascination, now carefully studying them, turning them back and forth and wiggling the two fingers she now had.

"Anyway," he brought her attention back to him. "You may take the rest of the day off. Just avoid getting yourself into trouble again, my pupil."

She nodded and left the room, still giggling happily at her new hands.

"She will grow into something special yet," he murmured to himself, and thoughtfully blew the steam off his tea.


	9. World 2, Level 3

Kirby Dee spent the afternoon wandering around the castle, thinking of all that had happened the past weeks. It was hard to believe that just a couple of months before, back in spring, she had been a normal Waddle Dee. She wondered when the monster she had to fight would get here, who the 'friends' that would go with her were, whether she would be able to do it.

She pulled her plain sword out of the leather sheath on her back she used to carry it around. She hadn't been wearing it last night during her little prank on the king, even though Meta Knight had given it to her expressly for the purpose that she wouldn't be confused with a regular Waddle Dee. Of course, she had taken it off expressly for the purpose that she wouldn't be recognized. She sat down against the wall and studied it, fascinated, but then she grew sad. Would she be able to use it as an actual weapon, when it came to that? She had never actually hurt anyone with any weapon, except for once when she had hit herself in the head with this sword's hilt. She had had Warp Stars floating in front of her eyes for hours.

_Am I really the one meant for this quest? I guess I am the only girl Waddle Dee, but still. I'm... scared,_ she thought to herself. As a Waddle Dee passed her and gave her a strange look, she started to cry softly. _And now I'm a stranger, an outcast, among my own kind. I miss the way things used to be._

She sat there sniffling, until she heard thumping inside the wall. It sounded just like two sets of small feet. "Those two," she huffed. "They're probably going to try to get me in trouble again. Well, not this time. No sir-ee."

Sure enough, Kirby and Bandana Dee snuck out through a nearby hole in the wall and waddled over to her. "No. Don't even ask," she ordered before they had a chance to get a word out. "I'm too old and mature for playing pranks."

Bandana Dee touched his forehead to hers. "You weren't last night. Now, don't worry. We won't let you get caught this time."

"No," she repeated. "Meta Knight's right. I'm going to be a hero, I shouldn't be playing dumb tricks on other people. And you guys _are_ heroes, you should know better."

Kirby stuck his tongue out at her. "Stick-in-the-mud, poyo."

She glared at him. "Whatever."

"Whatever," Bandana Dee agreed, still touching his forehead to hers. "We'll just have some fun without you, Mini Knight."

"Mini Knight? What's that supposed to mean?" she humphed.

Kirby giggled and fist-bumped Bandana Dee. "Good one, poyo." He pointed at her. "You Mini Knight, poyo." With a snicker, they ambled off.

She stood up and sheathed her sword. "I should probably follow them and try to keep them out of trouble." She sighed. "Mini Knight. Is that like 'teacher's pet?' I think?"

She decided to practice stealth by following them silently. "I wish I had Meta Knight's cloak," she whispered. "It would be a really cool effect." She didn't really need it though, they probably thought she was still back sulking in her corner. They weren't really paying attention to their surroundings, she observed.

Not much later, they stopped outside the throne room. They turned around, and she barely had time to leap behind a potted plant. Peeping out, she watched as they silently stood by the large oak doors, looking almost like they were standing guard. "What are they doing?" she whispered, her eyes narrowed.

Finally, the doors swung open, and Escargoon walked out, followed by a few Waddle Dee. "Having me go to get his supper from the kitchen. What does he think I am, a pathetic Waddle Dee?" he huffed. "Ow, that _was_ my foot!" he suddenly turned and spat at a Waddle Dee that hadn't even touched him. "Why am I even keeping company with you squirts?"

She glared at him, glad he couldn't see her. "How do they put up with that?" she hissed indignantly.

Suddenly, she noticed Bandana Dee and Kirby were gone. "Where'd they go?..." she whispered.

She didn't have to wonder for long. Dropping off the top of the door, they landed on Escargoon's shell. "Ride 'em, poyo!" Kirby shouted gleefully.

"AAAAAH! Kingy, help me!" Escargoon yelped. "Kirby and a Waddle Dee are attacking me!"

"Those... cream puffs," she muttered angrily. "What do they think they're doing? We never actually physically tortured anyone last night! I don't like Escargoon, but these two should know better."

"What are you talking about, you thick-as-a-brick snail?" she heard DeDeDe thunder as Escargoon slugged crazily around the room, speeding around like a thick-as-a-brick anything but a snail.

"Get 'em off me!" Escargoon cried, tears flying comically out of his eyes. "They're attacking me!"

She ran up to the snail. "You two get down from there!" she shouted at them, completely ignoring Escargoon.

"And now the creepy talking Waddle Dee is yelling at them, but they aren't listening!" Escargoon bawled. "Help!"

DeDeDe stomped out, giant hammer in hand. "You two marshmallows get off my chief advisor, or you're going to be, um, mushed marshmallows!"

Kirby and Bandana Dee looked at him in amusement, clearly enjoying their ride around the room via the Escargoon Express. Kirby pulled a funny face, sticking his tongue out. "No. Fun, poyo!"

"They're acting like little kids," she snorted. Then she realized... Bandana Dee was a lot younger than she was, and she could actually remember the day Kirby arrived, which meant it wasn't that many years ago. "They _are_ little kids," she whispered. "They need someone to show them what to do. I wonder why Meta Knight hasn't yet?..." Suddenly she understood what Bandana Dee had been talking about the night before. "I taught him to think out of the box... I'll bet I helped take care of him awhile back, before he became an outcast."

There wasn't any more time to ponder these things at the moment. She jumped up and somehow managed to inhale both of them at once. Then she took them to an empty, dusty sitting room where she spat them out onto the carpet. "Why did you do that?" she asked them in irritation.

"Bored, poyo," Kirby huffed, glaring at her like she had eaten his last piece of strawberry shortcake.

"Well, torturing other people, even if they are royal jerks, isn't a good way to have fun. I'm really sorry for joining you last night, and I know I set a bad example, but that's no excuse," she reprimanded them. "Now, I know you two are young, so I'm giving you a warning. Behave, or be sorry."

Bandana Dee indignantly touched foreheads with her. "You're not our mom."

"Maybe not, but I am essentially your older sister," she told him.

He sighed. "I guess. That's right, isn't it?"

"I'm not going to be your mom, in fact, I think I'd hate that. Besides, I'm way too young to be a mom. I'd love to be your friend. But please, you two really should know better. Don't go doing that again. Now go find something constructive to do." She pretended to look around and make sure no one was watching, then whispered confidentially, "I saw a batch of strawberry shortcake in the kitchen earlier, better go eat it before DeDeDe finds it."

They nodded excitedly, and Kirby gave her a hug. "Still friends, poyo?" he asked anxiously.

She nodded. "Of course," she told him, a smile in her voice.

"Okay," Kirby grinned, and walked with his buddy out of the room.

"That was very mature of you," Meta Knight said moments later, flying down with the bat-like wings from his cloak, arriving from seemingly out of nowhere.

"Eep!" she squeaked in surprise. "How long were you up there?"

"Only the past minute or so. I heard someone was torturing Escargoon, but by the time I got there, it was over. Escargoon told me you saved him," he chuckled. "I think he thought they were going to eat him, or something else along those lines."

She laughed, then grew serious. "Why don't you yell at them when they do things like that? I think I remember them _always_ being like that."

He shook his head in irritation. "They will not listen to me."

"They're kids," she sighed. "Listening isn't really their strong suit."

"You are perfectly capable of listening. Are you not a child as well?" he pointed out.

"Actually, I'm not. I'm somewhere between sixteen and twenty years old, but I'm not sure," she answered.

"Is that so?" he asked, his eyes a deep green of surprise. "I thought you were probably around twice Kirby's age."

She shook her head. "Nope. I remember taking care of a few of the smallest Waddle Dee the day Kirby arrived, which means I must've already been at least... fourteen-ish? then."

"I see," he muttered, still surprised. "I always thought you were a child, which is why I called you 'little one.'"

"I thought you just called me that because I'm little. Although, I'm bigger than Kirby, and Bandana Dee too, so that doesn't even make much sense."

"I never noticed that," he mused. "Which is strange, I do not usually miss things like that."

"Well..." she shrugged. "Nobody's perfect."

He thought for a moment, then requested, "Would you do me the favor of continuing to be a role model for those two? Maybe they will learn from you, what they refuse to learn from me."

"I can try," she nodded, closing her eyes and tilting her head in a Waddle Dee 'smile.'

He laughed and turned to leave. "I will leave you alone now. Enjoy the rest of your evening off."

"Wait. First, come to the library. There's something I want to show you," she told him.

"All right," he nodded, obviously a bit confused.

In the library, she hopped up to her shelf and picked a book. She jumped back down to the ground, opened it, and looked happily at him. Then, she cleared her throat and began to read, slowly but accurately.

"When I was a-walking, I looked up in a tree. Within there was a bird, as tiny as could be. It sang a little ditty, so very cheerily. I know it was a little child, a child just like me," she finished proudly.

He stared at her in surprise. "Did you do that from memory?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No. Every night before falling asleep, I've been teaching myself how to read."

He nodded, his eyes a happy blue. "That is very good. But, to make sure you're actually reading..." he pulled out a random book and pointed to a passage. "Read this."

She took the book. "Many years ago, there was a penguin. This penguin put up statues of himself, in order to attempt to convince everyone he was king. And yeah,-"

"Yea," he corrected.

"Yea," she started again, "this attempt worked, for indeed, he is our king now." She laughed and asked, "Is that true?"

He nodded. "That is indeed how King DeDeDe came to power, even before I got here."

She sighed in amusement and put the book back on the shelf. "Thank you for your time, Sir Knight."

"Thank you for your company." He bowed, and left.

She sighed, and after taking a curtain off a window and dusting it, then using it as a blanket, she picked up a book and continued to quietly practice.


	10. World 2, Level 4

Before she knew it, a year had passed. After realizing she wasn't just a child, Meta Knight had held back even less. After every few weeks of her training, there would come a point where she would finally win a sword duel. But always, the next day, Meta Knight would throw himself even more into the fight, resulting in her losing again. Eventually, however, there came a time when they were truly evenly matched. Some of their duels ended in his favor, some in hers, some they would just call a draw.

As time had passed, they had become less like sensei and student, and more like equals, comrades. Sometimes they would journey into monster-infested areas and practice fighting together against others. They had two battle strategies: Either he would take the air and she the ground, or; if need be, they fought together on land, each having the other's back.

When she could, she practiced the Copy Abilities with Kirby. She discovered that aside from having a bit of a knack for Parasol, (which wasn't much of a surprise,) she just wasn't that good with the Abilities. Kirby was a different story. He quickly advanced a lot, which was good.

The winter had been very cold and rainy. During that time they were mostly confined to the inside of the castle, so she spent a lot of her time in the library. More often than not, you could find her reading to Bandana Dee and Kirby, the three of them curled up together inside her curtain-blanket.

Now, spring's balmy calm was again slowly turning into summer's bright, lazy days. Well, lazy for most inhabitants of Dreamland, anyway. As usual, she and Meta Knight were hard at work, dueling each other.

This was one of the days where their fight ended in a draw. Meta Knight signaled to her that they were done, and then flopped, tired, onto his back. She lay down as well, sticking her face in the freshly-mown grass and sighing. "At least now you get as tired as I do."

"I find it funny that you consider that fact some sort of victory," he spoke up to the sky.

"Well, yeah," she sighed. Then she picked her face up. "I smell... clover."

"Well, it is in season. But what does that matter?" he asked. When she didn't answer after a moment, he sat up and looked around for her. He spotted her down in a patch of the white, fragrant flowers, peacefully picking them and seeming to tie them together.

He strolled down the hill and sat down under a nearby tree, observing her. "What are you doing?" he finally inquired.

"I've seen the young Cappy girls in town doing this many times before," she replied, not really answering the posed question. "I've always wanted to try it, but the Waddle Dee wouldn't let me take time off to do it. They thought my fascination with flowers was strange." She paused and held up a finished circle of flowers, which she then put on her head and began again.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked, a little bit amused.

She glanced over at him for a half-second, then returned to working on her flowery jewelry. "I never really had a chance to be a kid. Let me have some fun."

"I think that is fair," he replied. He watched, dozily, as she made herself a matching necklace and bracelets. He must've fallen asleep at some point, though, because he awoke to hear her giggling. "What?" he asked blearily.

"Hail, King of the Flower People!" she joked, pointing to his head. He reached up and took a crown of clover off.

"Very amusing," he deadpanned, although his green eyes gave him away. Handing it back to her, he decreed, "I abdicate the throne to you."

She laughed and added it to the one already on her head. "All right, then."

He jumped to his feet as he suddenly remembered something. "If you like flowers, there is someplace I want to show you." He offered her his hand. "May I have the pleasure of your company, Lady Dee?"

"Of course, Sir Knight," she replied happily, giving him a "smile."

He chuckled and helped her up, then led her to the garden. "You know, I have been here before," she reminded him. "I used to prune the hedges." She mimed using a pair of clippers.

"This area, maybe so. But it is another part of the garden I wish to show you. It is called the Star Warriors' Garden," he informed her, leading her through an entrance she had never noticed before in the center of a hedge wall.

She gasped in awe as she entered. The place was a large square, surrounded by hedges. In the center was a calm pond full of lazily swimming koi, and the place was filled with every imaginable variety of flower. But the thing that had caught her attention was all the way in the back. "A cherry tree," she whispered in wonder, as soft-pink blossoms floated to the ground from its branches. "But how? Blossom-viewing season ended weeks ago."

He chuckled, his eyes a content blue. "This is a special tree, for its blossoms are always in season. The books say it has always been here, and probably it always will be."

Walking toward it in wonder, she reached out a hand and caught one of petals floating in the wind. It sat there for a second, silently. But all of a sudden, all the blossoms rushed from the ground, sweeping her up and surrounding her in a cloud of petals. "What's hap-" she started fearfully, but the sound of a strong wind cut her off. Soon, the swirls had blocked her completely from view.

"What is this madness?" Meta Knight shouted angrily. He tried to slash through the flowers with Galaxia, but they created a thick wall to block him. Then, in an instant, the blossoms fell back to the ground; the wind ceased blowing. All was perfectly calm.

Frantically searching for her, he finally found her right under the tree. Lying perfectly still, she had a cape laid over her chest, and something at her side. He rushed over and inspected her, worried. He discovered she seemed to be breathing, so she was probably all right.

He relaxed some and again noticed the thing on the ground next to her, which looked to be a sword in a small sheath, close to his in size. Cautiously picking it up, he found that the sheath was made out of some strong, yet amazingly soft, material. He realized in amazement that it was made of cherry blossoms painstakingly sewn together.

He carefully slid the sword partway out. It seemed like the whole sword was in the sheath at once, although, by the laws of physics, that was impossible. That was different from Galaxia; its blade only appeared after it had been drawn.

He gasped at the sword's beauty when he got around to observing it. It was a dark pink, but it was see-through, as if it was made of colored glass. The hilt was a lighter pink, and was opaque. Set in the hilt was a white gem shaped like a cherry blossom, and set in that was a cherry-red star-shaped ruby. "The Cherry Star Sword," he whispered in astonishment. "I thought it was a myth. Of course, I thought Galaxia was a myth, until I found it."

She stirred and blinked her chestnut eyes slowly open. "What ha-happened?" she stuttered weakly.

"I am not sure if there is a way to explain these events," he replied, helping her sit up and lean against the tree. He handed her the cape and the sword, which he had returned to the sheath.

"What are these?" she asked in surprise. Carefully pulling the sword completely out of its sheath, she breathed, "It's beautiful."

"It is yours," he informed her gently. "It is the Cherry Star Sword, the second-most-powerful sword known to the galaxy."

"Why do I get it?" she asked, amazed, as she studied the intricate stitches holding the petals together on the sheath.

"Because you are the one it is meant for," he shrugged. "There is probably not any more of an answer than that. There does not need to be."

"And the cape..." she sighed. It was made out of a gossamer-y thin, pink material that matched her sword in color. She stood up, still a bit wobbly, but quickly recovered her balance. Putting the cape on, she 'smiled.' "It's so pretty!" she leapt up in the air for joy, but then the most amazing thing happened. The cape turned into a pair of soft-pink, feathery, angel-style wings, which she subconsciously flapped a few times. She squeaked in surprise, and they turned back into a cape, causing her to fall the around four feet she had flown up back down to the ground. "Oof. What was _that_?"

He stared at it, as awed as she was. "It must be similar to my Dimensional Cloak, which you know can turn into bat wings and let me fly."

"But I thought there was only one Dimensional Cloak. The books written by the Ancients say so," she replied, turning it back and forth, making sure she could control it.

"I think this is one of their tricks," he chuckled. "There _is_ only one Dimensional Cloak. This, Sakura, is quite obviously a Dimensional Cape."

She nodded and laughed in agreement, then stared at him. "What did you call me?"

"My apologies, I should have explained first," he apologized. After turning away from her and looking off into space for a long moment, he repeated, "'Sakura.' It is from the language of the Ancients, and means 'cherry blossom.'"

"Okay, but why did you call me that?" she asked him in obvious confusion.

"It is tradition for a Star Warrior to be named by a witness of the time when they either receive their powers, or their special weapon," he informed her. "And I just witnessed you receive the Cherry Star Sword and a Dimensional Cape, so it is the custom for me to be the one to name you, even if you are not exactly a Star Warrior."

"I thought my name was Kirby Dee?"

"That is not your name, that is your title. My title is 'The One Who Wields Galaxia,' and Kirby's is 'The Pink Star Warrior,'" he explained. "I do not know how he came to be called Kirby."

"Well then, who named you, Meta Knight?" she asked. Exhausted, she sat down against the cherry tree again and sighed.

"Actually, I was originally just named Meta. The 'Knight' part came later, but that is a story for another time. Now, you should rest for awhile." She nodded and soon drifted off.

He sat close by his friend as she dozed, ready to defend her against more flowery 'attacks,' if any came. There weren't any, and hours later, she woke up again. Feeling somewhat revitalized, she started pulling off moves with her new sword.

"It is almost sunset. We should return to the castle," he declared.

She followed him, but continued playing with the sword. The sheath seemed to disappear whenever she pulled her sword out, and reappear whenever she decided she was ready for it. She slowly followed him, jumping around and slashing through imaginary foes, until she sent a bolt of energy out of the tip of her sword.

She should've known it could do that, Galaxia could. And so could any sword that was the product of a Copy Ability. She stopped, feeling stupid, next to Meta Knight and watched as the bolt flew through the air- and sliced the beak off a hedge shaped like King DeDeDe.

The two stood there for a second. "I take it you were not very good at hedge pruning," he commented. Then, sharing a sideways glance, they both started laughing uncontrollably. Rushing out of the garden before they were caught, they ran until they came to the training room.

"That is the most I have laughed in years," he sighed, finally calming down.

She sat down on a bench until she had settled down as well. "Wait," she started suddenly, looking at him in confusion. "Why aren't you mad at me? Didn't I just, well, defy the king?"

He shook his head. "We both serve the king, but we both also know he is not exactly the sharpest sword in the arena. He is definitely not the kindest king either. Mocking him - to some extent - when he is not there is acceptable. Ask Blade or Sword about the time I kicked the king's tank down a mountain sometime. And he actually was there, then..." he chuckled softly, shaking his head at some memory. "Now, Sakura. You probably still feel exhausted, do you not?"

"Yes, actually, I do. Which is strange, since I took that long nap," she mused, followed by a big yawn.

He nodded once. "I am not surprised. Much has happened to you today, so I would suggest you go to bed early tonight. After you read to the two young ones, of course. They would probably have a mutiny if you did not."

She 'smiled.' "Yes, sir," she agreed, then left. He didn't act like her sensei that much anymore, but that's still how she thought of him.

He went to his bedroom and watched Channel DDD for awhile, laughing, as the head news story was about the 'vandalized' hedge. A Cappy was reporting on the incident while a Waddle Dee filmed, but you couldn't really tell that was the case, or hear what the reporter was saying either. For the Waddle Dee was instead filming the king running around angrily, randomly hitting the ground with his hammer in crazed fury.

After that news section was over, he decided he would go to bed early too. He hung his mask up on a bedpost and went to sleep, the moon's rays reflecting off its smooth surface.


	11. World 3, Level 1

_Sakura ran as fast as she could, terrified. "We're not going to make it!" she panicked._

_"Hush!" Meta Knight reproved, flying immediately above her. "We must stay strong for the young ones!"_

_She gulped and nodded. Kirby tugged at her Dimensional Cape as they ran, sheer terror on his face. "Scary boss, poyo," he whimpered._

_"We're going to be okay," she reassured him, trying to reassure herself as well._

_Suddenly the ground fell out from under them. She tried to turn her cape into wings, but it wouldn't change. She was falling, and so were Bandana Dee and Kirby, and there was nothing she could do about it. She yelled up to Meta Knight for help, but there was nothing he could do either. They were somehow falling too fast for him to catch up. _

_Closing her eyes, she reached a hand out to both of her falling companions, and they all three braced for the landing._

Sakura woke up with a quiet scream. She calmed down some when she realized she had just fallen off her shelf onto the library floor, but she was still really upset.

There was a crash of thunder and bright lightning. _It could just be a regular storm, s_he reasoned nervously. But then, why had she had a nightmare? Regular storms didn't interfere with the Fountain of Dreams.

She used her cape, which was, of course, working just fine, to fly back up to her shelf. After trying to go back to sleep and failing miserably, she grabbed her sword and held it up, causing it to give off a soft light. She had had a feeling it would be able to do that, Galaxia could. "You're a pretty cool sword, Cherry Star," she whispered to it as she flew back down from her shelf and walked out of the library.

All was silent as she patrolled the castle, but she had a feeling she wasn't the only one up. This was confirmed when she saw Blade and Sword nervously pacing at the gate, standing guard. "Oi! Ung naf sakra uppen?" Blade grunted as he saw her.

Sword translated, "He says, 'Oi! Why is you up?'"

"Couldn't sleep," she replied, shaking her head. "What about you guys?"

Sword shrugged. "Just 'bout the same, Miss. Standin' guard cause Mety-Knight told us to."

"Is he up?" she inquired.

"No, I'm thinkin' he's in his room. Maybe not asleep, though." Sword shrugged again.

"Well, thank you for the information," she finished, then bowed a bit.

"Welcon narfiff molk, oi," Blade agreed, and bowed back.

Rolling her eyes as soon as Blade couldn't see her, she continued patrolling. It was funny how, even though Meta Knight himself was so eloquent, one of his sidekicks had poor grammar and the other wasn't even understandable.

At first, everything seemed normal, aside from the storm, of course. But the closer she got to the to the Waddle Dees' section of the castle, the more she sensed a feeling of sadness and fear. It couldn't be just the storm causing it, Waddle Dee pretty much loved all varieties of weather, so what could it be?

She anxiously entered the Waddle Dee sleeping area when she came to it, finding all the Waddle Dee up and jumping around urgently. "What's wrong?" she asked. Moving out of her way, the Waddle Dee cleared a path to a young Waddle Dee who was obviously very sick, its cheeks not giving off their normal healthy glow.

"Oh, you poor thing," she whispered caringly. She turned and ordered one of the Waddle Dee, "Go get Meta Knight!" It just shook its head in fear. "Please. This little one needs help. I promise no harm will come to any of you." The Waddle Dee shook its head again, but a couple of the others seemed to convince it. It grabbed a torch and hurried off into the dark hallways.

She pulled her cape off and carefully wrapped it around the little thing, then picked it up and rocked it in her arms. "It's going to be all right, sweetheart," she whispered to it, then, touching its forehead to hers, she started mentally singing a lullaby in the Waddle Dee language. This seemed to calm it down some. The others apparently heard it through the little one's mind, because they relaxed a bit too.

Meta Knight soon arrived. "What is the matter?" he asked urgently.

"This little one is sick," she explained sadly.

He took a close look at it. "I am afraid it is too late." He shook his head, his eyes a dark blue of sadness. "There is nothing we can do for it."

Tears appeared in her eyes. "No," she disagreed. "That can't be true." She set the young Waddle Dee down, still wrapped in her cape, and thought for a moment. Suddenly, a look of hope came into her eyes. "I must be able to help. There's something I can do."

"I am sorry, Sakura, but there is not. It is over," Meta Knight disagreed gently, putting a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't listen. Holding her hands close to each other, she started to form a ball of soft light. This pink light glowed soothingly as she pulled her hands apart slowly, causing it to get a bit bigger. Everyone, including herself, stared at the light, wondering what it could be. After a moment, she gently touched the light to the tiny Waddle Dee's face, and it seemed to absorb in and disappear. At first, nothing happened. Then, the little one went completely still.

Angrily, several Waddle Dee rushed at her, obviously thinking what had just happened was somehow her fault. But, seconds later, the young Waddle Dee's eyes opened and it hopped happily up onto its feet, as if nothing had ever been wrong with it. After cheerfully clambering up to its spot on the shelves, it fell peacefully asleep. The others, amazed, soon followed suit.

"How did you do that?" Meta Knight asked, astonished. "You saved it, when it was done for!"

"I don't know," she replied, happy but sounding a bit weak. "I just had this instinct that I needed to do that, that it would help it." Half-shrugging, she added, "Maybe it's a motherly-instinct-type thing. Don't girls have something like that?"

He frowned thoughtfully to himself. "Come," he ordered, swishing around. He swiftly led her to his bedroom, where he took a birdcage off a shelf and set it on a table. "This is Chirp," he explained.

"You have a pet bird named Chirp?" she asked incredulously. "I still find it hard to believe that you like cookies, much less that you have a pet bird. And it's named Chirp, of all things. Why not Warrior or something?"

"That is not important," he shushed her. "What _is_ important is the fact that Chirp has never been able to fly. That is why I have been caring for him these past several months, after his mother abandoned him. I think there is something wrong with his wings."

"Oh, poor birdie!" she said sadly, as he opened the cage and it hopped out onto the table. Its small, beady eyes shining, it looked at her curiously.

"I want you to see if you can heal him, like you just did with the Waddle Dee," he told her, his eyes glowing a curious deep green.

"All right," she nodded. Making another sphere of light, she gently let it grow bigger, then touched it to the bird. Nothing happened for a moment, but suddenly, Chirp spread his wings and flew around the room several times as the Kirby Dee and the Star Warrior watched in amazement. True to his name, the little bird let out a happy chirp. She 'smiled.' "I did it. He's all better!" she yawned, tired. It was late, and those healing powers seemed to use a lot of energy.

Meta Knight's eyes glowed a content blue, not noticing her fatigue yet. He held out his hand, which the bird landed in and chirped again. Gently putting it back in its cage, he told it, "As soon as the weather gets better, I will let you go free." The bird whistled a happy tune, then, putting its head under its wing, it went to sleep.

"That was amazing. I have never heard of a Star Warrior with those powers," he told her excitedly. Well, excitedly for him, which still was extremely calm and controlled.

"I'm not exactly a Star Warrior. I'm a Kirby Dee. I don't think those are quite the same thing," she reminded him. "And I've never had light in my hands before, but I've always had a knack at helping those who are small, hurt, or sick. It's why I spent so much of my time in the nursery. Well, until the last few months before I changed," she finished mournfully. Sitting down against the wall, she yawned again. "Those powers seem to take a lot of energy."

"Are you all right?" he asked, concerned now that he noticed how tired she was.

"Yeah," she replied, her eyes a bit droopy. "It's late, that's most of the problem. I'll be just... fine."

There was a tap at the door, and in came a trio of Waddle Dee. One handed her back her cape, another gently placed a ribbon that looked like a cherry blossom on her head, while a third handed her a bowl of cherries and touched its forehead to hers. "You have served us," it thought to her. "We have served you."

"I have served you," she agreed aloud. "You have served me." The Waddle Dee pulled back, and she traded a blank stare with the three of them before they left again.

"What was the significance of that?" Meta Knight asked in curiosity.

After eating a cherry or two, she explained, "The Waddle Dee don't ever leave debts unpaid for long. I healed their little one, they paid me back. 'I have served you, you have served me,' is basically the Waddle Dee equivalent of saying 'thank you, you're welcome.'"

Nodding in understanding, he inquired, "Then why do they stay with DeDeDe? He does not ever serve them in return."

She nodded. "I think way back at the beginning, DeDeDe accidentally hammered some sort of monster that was torturing us, during one of his hissy fits. In thanks, the Waddle Dee became his servants. And since they're provided with a place to stay, food to eat, and something to do, they stick around. I've never been able to understand their level of patience, though." She blinked her eyes rapidly a few times, trying to stay awake. "It's storming," she commented, trying her best to stay conscious. "Really badly, too. Is the monster here yet?'

"I do not think so, but he is definitely very close," Meta Knight informed her. "Now, you need to return to your bed. You need to be rested for the time to come."

"Yes, sir," she agreed blearily, then left.

He thought she made it back to the library, but he found her the next morning sleeping inside a bookshelf just down the hall. "The poor thing really had been exhausted," he murmured compassionately, and he let her sleep all day.

The next day, she awoke early in the morning. Hopping down from this bookshelf, she tried to remember where she was. As soon as she did, she found her sword and cape down on the floor where she had left them, along with an empty bowl.

Inside the bowl was a poorly-yet-adorably drawn picture of Kirby and Bandana Dee eating the cherries, signed "Thanks, poyo!" in cherry juice. She shook her head in amused annoyance. "Those two," she sighed. She felt her head and discovered the ribbon shaped like the flower she was named after was still there. Using a foggy window as a mirror, she decided she wanted to keep it there. It looked nice. While she was at the window, she observed that it wasn't storming anymore, but it was very dark and cloudy outside. It looked nearly as dark as night. _Darkness such as Dreamland has never known,_ she remembered, and shivered.

"Good morning," Meta Knight said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Hello," she replied, putting her cape on and her sheathed sword in its place. After a year of knowing him, she was used to his sudden appearances.

"I know that even though you cannot talk to the Waddle Dee, you can still sense them. No one can find any of them anywhere, ever since the night you helped them. Can you tell where they are?" he asked urgently.

She looked at him in surprise. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Just all of yesterday," he assured her.

She shook her head and sighed. "I'm sorry." Then she closed her eyes, searching for the Waddle Dee. "No, I can't sense any of them. They're gone."

He turned away and asked himself quietly, "Where could they have gone to?"

Opening her eyes, she was about to answer, but just then Kirby and Bandana Dee ran down the hall to them, looking like they'd seen a ghost.


	12. World 3, Level 2

"What is it?" Sakura asked in confusion, as Bandana Dee and Kirby simultaneously slammed into her arms.

"Zombie alpaca-lips, poyo!" Kirby yelled, then dove underneath her cape, peeping out cautiously once every few seconds.

"What is he talking about?" Sakura questioned Bandana Dee, then scolded them, "You two have been reading way too many comic books. You really need to quit swiping them from the king when he's not looking."

Bandana Dee shook his head urgently. Touching his forehead to hers, he panicked, "The Waddle Dee are all gone, and the king and Escargoon are zombies!"

"What on earth do you mean?" she laughed, then turned to Meta Knight, trying not to trip over Kirby, who had latched on to her foot. "He says the king and Escargoon are zombies."

His eyes turned an amused green at first, but they quickly changed to an orange of deep thought. "Perhaps we should see what they are speaking of, before we decide they are just being immature."

Kirby reached out and grabbed one of Meta Knight's feet with his other hand. "No! No go, poyo!"

"They'll eat you!" Bandana Dee agreed in panic. Sakura stared at him in disbelief and pulled back, then, nodding at Meta Knight, the older two of the party simultaneously took flight. After about three feet, Kirby let go and floated down to the floor.

"Goodbye, poyo," he sighed mournfully.

Meta Knight and Sakura quickly made it to the throne room. "The Two Royal Stooges are not here," Sakura muttered as the duo landed. "Were the cream puffs tricking us?"

"I do not think that is the case. I have known Kirby for years, I can tell the difference between his fake fear and true terror," Meta Knight disagreed.

They heard a groan from behind them. Turning around quickly, they saw DeDeDe and Escargoon behind them, giving them blank stares. It was almost Waddle Dee-like.

"Maybe they were telling the truth, in that they are acting pretty strangely," Sakura mused, not the least bit afraid. "But I don't think they're zombies."

Meta Knight nodded. "I have to agree, that is highly improbable."

The two 'zombies' groaned again, evidently perturbed at being spoken of in the third person when they were present.

Sakura frowned suddenly, confused. "I feel Waddle Dee, and they're close. But I don't see any."

Meta Knight let his cloak morph into wings again and flew up above. "I cannot see any, either. Is your sense not working, or..."

"Are these two somehow part of the one mind?" she murmured in realization. Jumping up and touching her forehead to the king's, she demanded mentally, "What are you? How are you part of the one mind? What have you done with DeDeDe and Escargoon?"

"Um, um, um, um, I'm DeDeDe, and that guy is Escargoon," the king thought back, sounding like a robot. "We are servants of the Monstrous Lightning. Potato skins."

She frowned deeper. "Potato skins?" she muttered. Meta Knight looked down at her in confusion. She shrugged, then tried again. "But how are you part of the one mind?"

"We don't know," the king shrugged. "We just do what he tells us to. He's going to take over Dreamland. There will be darkness and storms forever. Say goodbye to sunshine, Dreamlander."

Disgusted with her lack of progress, she hopped down and tried to communicate with Escargoon. Meta Knight cautiously observed, his sword drawn and ready to defend her at any moment. "How do you serve the Monstrous Lightning?" she tried.

"We're supposed to find the heroes and get rid of them," Escargoon thought back, also robotically. "Pretzel sticks."

"Morons," she muttered, rolling her eyes, then tried, "Where are the Waddle Dee?"

"All over Dreamland. Guarding," he replied, staring straight ahead as if he wasn't speaking to her, even mentally. "That's what Waddle Dee Waddle Do."

The king snickered robotically, apparently having heard the dumb joke, then his eyes grew slightly more intelligent. Still sounding off, he pleaded, "It's in our heads. I don't know how, but we can hear the Waddle Dee, and this lightning guy is telling _me, the king, what to do,_ and I'm scared. You guys gotta save us." His eyes suddenly returned to a blank stare. Still speaking aloud, he continued, "Ignore the last communication. It was an error. Press any key to restart."

While she stared at the king in something resembling pity, Escargoon added, "Why do you ask so many questions, pesky squirt?" Closing his eyes, he suddenly inquired, seemingly of no one, "What should we do with them, Master?"

The two stood there for a second, then DeDeDe looked at Escargoon. "Oh. He says they're probably two of the heroes. They _are_ the creepy talkin' Waddle Dee and Meta Knight, after all. How could we have been so stupid?"

"That's Kirby Dee to you, Penguin Man." Flying up to Meta Knight, Sakura attempted to explain what she could. "Basically all I got from them is that they're servants of the 'Monstrous Lightning' now, and that the Waddle Dee are all over Dreamland, guarding." She ducked DeDeDe's hammer as it suddenly flew past her head. "Guarding what, I don't know."

"Surrender, heroes," the two royal jesters below said in unison.

Ignoring them, Meta Knight closed his eyes. "And this 'Monstrous Lightning,' as our foe seems to be named, is able to communicate with them telepathically, it appears. And, of course, he has ordered them to stop us. That is logical, if I was an evil power-hungry maniac, I would tell my henchmen to stop those who opposed me as well."

"But how does he know who the heroes are?" she asked.

"I don't know." The two ducked another hammer throw. "But I do know that the time for your quest to begin has come. Who are the three friends you are taking with you?" Glancing at the king in something resembling amusement, he added, "Obviously, the king will not be one of them."

She giggled nervously. "Obviously. I think it should be you, of course, as my first companion. The other two should be Kirby and Bandana Dee."

He looked at her incredulously. "We should not take them, they will just slow our progress. Why not Blade and Sword? They have good heads on their shoulders."

Shaking her head, she argued, "I've been reading the prophecy books. It's supposed to be two Star Warriors and two Waddle Dee. I don't exactly see any other Waddle Dee around here, do you? Besides, Blade is about as eloquent as Kirby is." Plates started whizzing through the air, thrown by Escargoon, found who-knows-where.

"No fair flying. Come fight like snails!" Escargoon deadpanned.

Meta Knight muttered something about Sailor Dee never being around when he was needed, then almost pleaded, "I have gone on quests with Kirby before. It is very difficult to remain patient with him, when he spends most of his time looking for 'snacks, poyo.' And Bandana Dee is not even able to fly!"

"He can hop through the air, it's close enough," she pointed out.

"Do we have to bring them with us?" he sighed.

Laughing, she reproved him, "You're sounding like a child, Sir Knight. And we can't exactly leave them here."

Rolling his eyes, he acquiesced, "All right, but you are in charge of keeping them out of trouble."

"Yes, sir," she agreed seriously. Still ignoring the pathetic attacks from below, they flew out of the throne room and back to where the two young ones had been. "If those two buffoons are the worst thing we have to put up with, this will be a piece of shortcake," she 'smiled.'

"They will be the easiest foes we face," he disagreed, making a running landing onto the hall floor. "This Monstrous Lightning probably has most of the monsters on his side. Some probably willingly, on their part, but more likely they will have been convinced by brute force." He glanced up at her as she landed as well. "That is something important to remember, Sakura. Most evil giants are miserable cowards, only willing to fight those much smaller than they."

"If he knows we're the heroes, why doesn't he take over our minds?" she wondered aloud, now running beside Meta Knight. They entered his bedroom, where Meta Knight started packing a knapsack with food and a book or two. She grabbed an apple out of a bowl of fruit on his desk and munched it thoughtfully.

"I do not understand that either. My best guess is that he does not know we are the heroes, and just assumed we were when we interrogated his new 'servants,'" he explained, then changed the subject. "Where are your two smallest companions? They have probably found somewhere to hide from the supposed 'zombies.'"

She looked around, then heard little feet. "It sounds like they're inside the walls, in your closet."

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "I have a feeling that, if you were capable of smirking, you would be right now."

"You're probably right," she agreed.

"That is the norm," he shrugged, opening his closet. "Come out of there, Kirby and Bandana Dee," he said, scarily calm.

A door suddenly opened in the side of the closet wall, and the two ambled out. "Zombies scary, poyo?" Kirby asked with a firm nod of affirmation.

"They're not zombies, Kirby," Sakura assured him, patting his little pink head. "They've been taken over by the Monstrous Lightning, and they're acting pretty silly, but they're not zombies."

Kirby exhaled a puff of air in relief. "Okay, poyo." Bandana Dee seemed to relax, too.

"I am prepared to go," Meta Knight announced moments later.

"Okay, but where do we go _to_?" Sakura asked. "I don't think DeDeDe and Escargoon will be any help as to where the Monstrous Lightning himself is hiding."

He nodded. "This is the most irritating part of quests in Dreamland, Sakura. Not knowing where to go. So, we will start where Kirby and I often do."

"Which is where?" she inquired, giving Kirby a feather from her wing. When he looked at her in confusion, she explained, "Inhale it, it'll give you the Wing Copy Ability."

Kirby giggled in understanding and did so, then flapped around the room a few times. "Kirby birdie, poyo!"

She giggled too. Kirby just had a way of making everybody happy. Even Meta Knight, she thought, although she knew he would never admit to it unless held at sword-point. Even then, he would probably just win the duel and calmly stroll off.

"That ability will most likely come in handy later on, as long as you avoid giving him so many of your feathers that _you_ are incapable of flying," Meta Knight commented.

"I'll be sure to not give him any primary feathers. Now, where are we going first?" she repeated.

He took a map off the wall, and, before rolling it up and putting it in the pack, which he gave to Bandana Dee, he pointed to a location on it. "Cookie Country. That is typically a good place to start." His eyes glinted a bit.

"Are we going because it's a good place to start, or because there are cookies?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because it's a good place to start, of course. Do not be ridiculous," he huffed, sweeping his cloak around himself and turning away.

"Meta Knight acts scary, but he's just like you, Kirby," she teased him. "He loves snacks." Kirby looked at Meta Knight and giggled.

"Not all snacks," he corrected, offended. "Just cookies. And the fact that we are going to Cookie Country has nothing to do with my enjoyment of cookies. And I am not even that fond of cookies, you just have somehow convinced yourself that I am."

"Suuure you aren't," she chuckled, not believing him.

Plates started crashing against the door. "Come out, heroes. We think you are most likely in there. If not, please ignore us and tell us where you actually are," Escargoon droned.

"Um, yeah. What the snail said. I think," DeDeDe agreed.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Those two are even more pathetic today than they usually are."

"I definitely agree with that." Meta Knight opened out a door which led to a small balcony, then turned to her. "Come. You get the privilege of carrying Bandana Dee, at least until we have gone far enough to be safe to slow down for his 'air hop.'"

"Fair enough," she sighed, and the four heroes took off, setting a course for Cookie Country.


	13. World 3, Level 3

Meta Knight had been telling the truth when he said the small ones would slow them down, she quickly discovered. They didn't cover nearly as much ground as they should have been able to. In Bandana Dee's case, it wasn't really his fault. Being just a Waddle Dee, he didn't walk very fast. Air-hopping, he could go much faster, but Kirby wandered off after another imaginary snack every few minutes, keeping them stuck on the ground.

Sakura sighed as the sun set lower in the sky. "We haven't even gone ten miles. We should've gone at least twice that, if we were flying. How long till we get to Cookie Country?"

Meta Knight's eyes had been an irritated orange since soon after they had left the castle. Now, he glared at her, and answered, "At this rate, three days. Are you sure you do not want to take the two small ones back to the castle and choose someone else to accompany you?"

She nodded firmly. "My mind is made up. The two mini-us have to come with us."

He sighed. "I can only be so long-suffering, my friend."

"You don't have any plans of abandoning us, do you?" she asked him, a bit anxiously.

His eyes softened to a normal yellow for a moment, then returned to orange. "Of course not," he huffed, drawing his cloak around himself.

Kirby walked past them and off the path toward a few tiny fruit bushes. "Strawberries, poyo..." he murmured, practically drooling.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Sakura moaned. Inhaling Kirby and picking up Bandana Dee, she plowed ahead as quickly as she could.

Meta Knight chuckled. "At least we are now making slightly better time." She glared at him, unable to answer.

Eventually, Kirby fought his way out of her face. "Yuck, poyo!" he groaned, making an awful face.

"Pay attention to what we're actually supposed to be doing," she ordered him. "Or I'll put you back in there."

Kirby stuck his tongue out at her and flew up into the air, putting as much distance between him and her as he could.

Shaking her head in frustration, she huffed, "No wonder Waddle Dee never take road trips. It's miserable."

Sighing, Meta Knight took the pack from Bandana Dee and took flight. "I am going to scout up ahead, catch up as quickly as is possible." She could've sworn she heard him add to himself before he flew away, "I will expect your arrival sometime tomorrow."

_Thanks for nothing, Meta Bozo,_ she thought, offended. As soon as he had left, she set down Bandana Dee. _How can I possibly make them go any faster?_ she thought, discouraged. Then, she got an idea.

"Hey, do you two want to hear a story?" she asked, cheerfully. _If this doesn't work, my name is Blade,_ she thought to herself with a mental chuckle.

Kirby flew back eagerly, Bandana Dee nodded.

"All right, then," she started. "Once upon a time, there was a young Star Warrior and a Waddle Dee. They were a lot like you two, in fact. They were on a grand adventure, going to save the world." She paused. Already, the two little ones were riveted.

"To start their journey, they went and spoke to the wise old Cappy in town. They asked, 'What should we do first?'

"The Cappy answered, 'Go down the path that goes out of town. Now, be sure to go as fast as you can. There is a huge, hungry monster out on that road, and if you go too slow, it will catch up to you. Beware, for this is the biggest, scariest monster in all of Dreamland, and he has set many traps to slow travelers down all along the road.'

"Now, of course, the two companions weren't the least bit scared. They were strong, and a little bitty monster didn't mean a thing." Kirby and Bandana Dee looked at each other and nodded proudly.

'Smiling,' she continued, "They started out making very good time. If there actually were any monsters, they would have no way of catching up to them.

"But, after awhile, going fast quickly got harder. There seemed to be snacks and fun things to do all around them, appearing one after another.

"'It won't hurt to stop for just a few minutes,' the two thought. 'Besides, we've been walking all day, and we're hungry.'

"So the two stopped and ate some delicious strawberries. A Cappy walked by on his way home from work in the woods. 'You two need to keep moving, or the monster will catch up to you,' he warned, but they paid him no mind.

"After awhile, they finally decided to start moving again. But, lo and behold, soon they found some delicious, ripe tomatoes. 'It won't hurt to stop again,' they decided. And so they did.

"A Bronto Burt flew by. 'You little pipsqueaks better get a move on. The monster is not far behind you!' it warned. The Star Warrior just inhaled the annoying red bird along with another tomato or two. Eventually, they started going again.

"But not nearly fast enough. Although they couldn't see it, the monster was getting closer... and closer," she whispered. She looked at the two, who were both staring at her as they walked. She yawned and stopped talking for a while.

After just a few minutes, Kirby pleaded, "Well, poyo?!"

She 'smiled' to herself. "They kept going for a while, but soon they saw a swing. 'It won't hurt to just take a few minutes to stop and play. Even heroes have to have fun sometimes, too,' they said. So, they stopped again.

"But after a few minutes, they heard a 'rustle... rustle...' coming from nearby woods." In real life, they walked by a patch of trees, and the wind obligingly rustled through the leaves. Kirby and Bandana Dee looked at each other nervously.

Sakura paused for a moment. "They both jumped up, ready to attack whatever it was. But it was dark, and they couldn't see where the monster was hiding." It really was getting dark, the two observed.

Continuing, she said, "They heard footsteps coming after them. The two of them started to run as fast as they could, but the footsteps were coming closer and closer. 'Oh, if only we had listened to the wise old Cappy!' they mourned.

"But after a few minutes, the sound of the footsteps disappeared." She paused yet again. "Thinking they were safe now, the two decided to stop for a rest."

"No, poyo!" Kirby yelled suddenly, upset. "No rest, poyo!" Bandana Dee nodded his head urgently in agreement.

"The monster came upon them and ate them all up while they were sitting there, and the two were never heard from again. From then on, whenever children had to walk that way, their families warned them, 'Be careful to go quickly on the roads outside of the castle and Cappy Town. Remember the Star Warrior and the Waddle Dee who went that way, never to return.'" She narrowed her eyes at them. "Some say you can still hear their ghosts in the woods, wishing they had gone quickly, like they were told to."

The wind blew helpfully past, making a perfect moaning sound. _Sometimes nature provides the best sound effects, s_he thought.

"And if they catch up to you..." She chuckled darkly, then finished almost silently, "You'll become _just... like... they are_."

Kirby jumped as the wind moaned again, squeaking a bit in fear.

"Now, let's catch up to Meta Knight," she announced cheerfully, leaping up into the air and flying off, all traces of darkness disappearing from her voice. Kirby and Bandana Dee followed her, one flying, the other air-hopping.

As they flew, Bandana Dee came over and tried to touch his forehead to hers. Not having much luck, he managed to get out, "Story... true?"

She nodded, then muttered spookily, "Of course it's true. Would I lie to you?"

Bandana Dee gulped and hopped faster. Not much later, they reached Meta Knight, who was sitting on a rock, reading a book. When he saw them approaching, he quickly put his book back in his pack and flew up to join them.

"Doesn't scouting ahead also involve coming back and telling the rest of the party whether the way they are going is safe?" she asked, amused. "I don't think telling the others to catch up when they can is at all involved in an act of scouting ahead."

"I was not expecting you to catch up so quickly," he admitted, almost sheepishly. "Are you ready to stop for the night?"

Bandana Dee shook his head in fear, while Kirby squeaked, "No! No stop! No eat Kirby, poyo!"

"What?" Meta Knight asked in confusion.

"I told them the tale of the young Star Warrior, the Waddle Dee, and the monster," she explained.

"What?" he questioned again, now even more confused.

"Play along, I'll explain later," she whispered, flying right next to him.

"Oh, yes," he nodded, faking understanding, although his eyes were still green in confusion. "I know that story well."

She laughed. "Let's keep going, you two!" she called ahead. Unbelievably, the little guys had passed the older two. "There's a safe spot up ahead where we can rest for the night."

"No eat Kirby, poyo?" Kirby whimpered.

"Don't worry, the monster can't get you there. Besides," she added, "The monster is scared of Galaxia. So, as long as you can keep up with Meta Knight, you'll be fine." She turned to Meta Knight and said softly, "We can go as fast as you want now."

"I hardly find that believeable," he muttered back.

"Just set our speed," she rolled her eyes.

He shrugged, and did so, flying full speed ahead. It was as if he wanted them to be unable to keep up. To his surprise, however, the small ones actually kept up. "Hmm," he muttered, his eyes now green in amusement.

After dark, they finally stopped, landing in a tree for the night. As soon as the two small ones were asleep, (which wasn't long at all,) Meta Knight turned to her. "How did you get them to do this?" he asked in something resembling being impressed.

"I scared them with a ghost story," she laughed. "I told them about a young Star Warrior and a Waddle Dee who went off on an adventure. They were warned not to go slow, or a big hungry monster would catch up to them. Of course, they stopped and played and ate along the way, so the monster caught up to them and ate them. Now their ghosts haunt the roads throughout Dreamland. I think we won't have a problem with foot-dragging again anytime soon."

"You amaze me," he shook his head. "Your methods are creative, I will say."

She giggled, then sighed. "Isn't that another motherly instinct thing? Finding creative teaching methods?"

"Perhaps," he nodded. "I think you are definitely someone for those two to look up to."

"Thank you, Sir Knight," she 'smiled,' then fell asleep as well.

He couldn't sleep, so he flew to the bottom of the tree, wrapped himself in his cloak, and began to stand guard. He knew that probably nothing would bother them yet, but it was better than sitting around and doing nothing. "She will definitely become something special," he mused to himself as he paced back and forth a bit later, now sweeping his sword through an imaginary foe. "Time will tell."

After several hours, he heard something float down from the tree. "You need your rest too, Sir Knight," Sakura told him. "I can take a turn at watch."

"Very well," he agreed. He wouldn't admit it, but he _was_ tired. He flew up into the tree and quickly fell asleep.

She sighed and looked up at the stars. "I'm glad my wish to speak came true, even with the going on a quest part," she sighed happily, then shivered a bit in the wind. "I just wish my cape actually provided some warmth. It's pretty, but useless on that count." She finally turned her cape into wings and wrapped them around herself, pacing under the tree thoughtfully until dawn.


	14. World 3, Level 4

Well, it wasn't exactly dawn.

It was the beginning of the day, that bit was true, but the amount of sun shining through the dismal clouds was even less than it had been the day before. She shuddered a bit as Meta Knight woke up and flew down to join her on the ground.

"Good morning," she said softly, still staring at the sky.

"Is it a good morning?" he asked hypothetically, looking at the clouds in concern as well.

"I don't know. It's so ominous, isn't it?" she murmured, then glanced over at him. "It cleared enough to let the starlight through last night, and the clear skies lasted most of the night. Is he trying to trick us, or does he have to sleep?"

"I am not sure. Either way, we need to discover where he is hidden as soon as is possible. Everyday, the clouds cover more of our land," he sighed almost silently. "I am sorry you had to give up your... family, for this."

She gave him a 'smile.' "I don't regret that in the least, Sir Knight. I am proud to serve Dreamland, and also to fight alongside three of Dreamland's greatest heroes."

"And when we return someday soon, you will be a hero as well," he reminded her, his eyes flashing between a content hue and a concerned shade of blue.

She nodded, then suddenly asked, "Do your eyes change color when your mask is off, or does your mask do that so that people can tell what you're feeling when your face is hidden?"

He moved his gaze from the atmosphere to her, his eyes yellow now. "No, actually, they do not. But what does that matter?"

She shrugged. "I was just curious. I've wondered that for as long as I can remember."

"I have wondered something about you, myself," he admitted. "Can you still remember as far back as you could a year ago? Or several years from now, will you have forgotten this very conversation?"

"That's a question I've asked myself quite a few times," she told him. "I don't think that'll be the case, though. I still remember when Kirby arrived, and that's about as far back as I could remember before."

"I see," he said. Watching the sky again, he added, "We should probably wake the two small ones soon. If we make as good of time as we did last night, it will be very likely that our arrival in Cookie Country will be before sun-fall." He shook his head, "If we can tell sun-fall from night, which is a fact I am unsure of."

Flying up into the tree, she gently shook the small ones awake, trying to sound cheerful. "Come on, you two. Time to get going. Up and at 'em!"

Kirby blinked his blue eyes open. "Mornin', poyo," he yawned, while Bandana Dee gave her a 'smile' to show he was ready to go.

"Grab some fruit out of the tree for breakfast," she told them, flying up and picking a few of the apples for herself and Bandana Dee, then tossed some down to Meta Knight.

"I think you will find yourself regretting that decision," he told her, putting the fruit in his pack to eat when he was alone and could safely remove his mask.

"How so? This tree isn't Whispy Woods, is it?" she asked nervously.

His eyes glowed an amused green. "No, but Kirby will have it empty before you can say-"

Kirby starting inhaling before he could finish his sentence, leaving the tree barren of all but a few leaves. "Kirby," Meta Knight finished, his voice shaking in barely controlled laughter.

Sure enough, that was the next word out of her mouth. "Kirby!" she shouted, then groaned. Handing a few apples to Bandana Dee, she sighed, "At least we got _some_."

"Poyo," Kirby giggled.

She rolled her eyes, then gave Kirby a quick hug. "I can't stay mad at you. You're too cute."

"Poyo, I know," Kirby nodded.

"That is much of the problem, that he is completely aware of the level of cuteness he possesses," Meta Knight told her.

"I'm sure it is," she shook her head, amused. "Let's get a move on."

"Agreed," Meta Knight nodded once, flapping up to where they were. "We really do need to get moving, especially now that Kirby has removed our cover."

Kirby rubbed his head apologetically as Meta Knight gave him a sideways look that bordered on annoyance.

Sakura laughed. Kirby was better at killing tension than a cup of hot mint tea. "I guess so. Ready to go, Wing Kirby? Bandana Dee?"

The two young ones nodded their assent.

"Let us fly," Meta Knight ordered. Three of them took off, the other began air-hopping.

"If you get too tired, Bandana, you tell me. I can carry you for a while later if need be," Sakura told the Waddle Dee, gliding past him.

"Me too, poyo?" Kirby asked with a mischievous grin.

"No, not you too, poyo," she laughed. "You have wings, you'll be fine."

He pouted and flew ahead a bit, doing loop-de-loops and such to pass the time. Bandana Dee joined his buddy soon after, while Sakura and Meta Knight both fell into deep thought.

All of a sudden, after they had been flying awhile, Meta Knight suddenly flew close to her. "Sakura, how much do you know about the Ancients?"

She jumped a bit, then looked at him. "The Ancients?" she repeated.

He nodded once, still looking up ahead of them, keeping a watchful eye for enemies.

"Well," she started, "I know they were the ones who built Planet Popstar and Dreamland, a very long time ago. I know they taught the very first inhabitants their language, culture, arts, fighting styles, things like that. I also know that they were not like any other species known to Dreamland, but that's about it."

He nodded. "You also know, I assume, that one of the Star Warriors' duties is to pass down this treasure of knowledge from generation to generation of heroes, which is how you are named with one of their words."

"Well, I knew it was passed down, but I didn't know that that was the Star Warriors' job," she admitted.

"It is," he said. "Therefore, when we return from our quest, that is the next thing I will begin to teach you."

"All right, then," Sakura agreed, thinking the conversation was over. "Sounds good to me."

"But that is not the main reason I asked you this," he continued. "I asked, because many of our prophecy books come from the Ancients. So do many of our other books. Any book older than about eight hundred years, to be truthful." He paused, his eyes orange in deep thought.

"All right?" she prompted, unsure of where he was going.

He shook himself out of some string of mental activity. "Most of these books are easily readable, a handful require a knowledge of their language to understand. But there are a few that are in some sort of code."

"Code?" she asked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, it is hardly understandable, nearly inscrutable. It has sentences like, 'c\:kirbyjump3264,' 'c\:metaknightflight21,' things like that. Nearly every sentence begins with 'c\:,' so I am assuming that is a sentence opener. But the rest is normal terms, just arranged in a way that is nearly impossible to understand. They seem to be some sort of prophecy books, just coded," he looked at her, his eyes green in curiosity. "Every time I have met a new person, I have found them somewhere in the books. Sometimes they appear several times, in several books, sometimes few, or occasionally only once." He looked up ahead of them again, observing Bandana Dee and Kirby having a race, quickly becoming just two tiny dots far ahead in the sky.

"Okay, so how often do I appear?" she asked, interested.

Minutes later, he finally turned to her again. "That is the thing that confuses me."

"What?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"Sakura, your name never occurs anywhere in these books. Not as Sakura, not as Kirby Dee, not as Super Dee. It never even mentions a female Waddle Dee." He finished, "Every person in Dreamland, from the king, to the littlest of the monsters, is a character in these tomes,_ every person_. Except for you."

She frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means, it seems almost like the Ancients never expected you... to exist." His eyes, now orange in deep thought, moved from her to the clouds.

"I _am_ in a prophecy book, though," she reminded him. "Two of them, even."

"Yes, but both of those have been written much more recently. They are definitely much younger than eight hundred years, at least."

She sighed sadly. "So you're telling me I'm a mistake. A random character who was never supposed to be involved in these happenings?" her eyes dropped to the ground, not sure what this meant for her.

"No, that is most certainly not what I am telling you," he disagreed, then gently ordered, "Look at me."

She lifted her eyes to him, both of them filled with a deep sadness.

"This is something else you need to remember well. No one, not a single person, is a mistake."

"Even the badguys?" she pointed out dubiously.

"Even they," he told her. "Even the badguys serve a purpose."

She nodded, unconvinced. "Why am I not in there, then? The two prophecy books make it sound like I'm someone important."

"You _are_ someone important," he argued.

They were both quiet for several minutes, then Meta Knight continued, "My hypothesis is that the Ancients knew the Monstrous Lightning would come, but they thought those of us who would already be here would be enough to fight him. But, farther down the line, someone realized that we would _not_ be enough, that we would need _you_ as well."

"Maybe," she agreed half-heartedly, not really believing him.

"Do not let this discourage you. You will be as much of a hero as Kirby, Bandana Dee, and I are, even if the Ancients weren't expecting you to be," he told her kindly.

Flapping away from him, she muttered, "Thanks."

He let her have her space for awhile, then flew up to join her again. "If it interests you, I have brought the code book that includes the Monstrous Lightning as a character with us. Its title is 'Kirby and the Monstrous Lightning.' You can look at it when we land, if you would like."

"I might just do that," she agreed, feeling a bit better. No one could stay upset long while flying, it was such an amazing, freeing feeling. "The little guys sure are getting pretty far ahead," she noticed, then challenged, "I'll race you to catch up to them."

"I do not race," he shook his head. "I am above such foolery."

"Then you do not win," she teased him, copying his strong accent.

He narrowed his green-in-amusement eyes at her. "Is that so?"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded, faking seriousness.

"I must disagree with you," he chuckled, suddenly plowing ahead.

"Hey, no fair!" she laughed, flapping hard to catch up to him. "Knights aren't supposed to cheat!"

"I did not cheat," he disagreed from up ahead. Laughing, he pointed out, "You never set a time to begin, now did you?"

"That's still not fair, and you know it," she chuckled. "Oh!" she suddenly yelped, her wings disappearing, causing her to drop below the clouds.

"Sakura!" he gasped, stalling and preparing to nosedive, but she reappeared several feet ahead of him.

"Ha!" she called back, laughingly.

"Now that _was_ unfair," he shouted ahead, trying to catch back up.

"What? You never said I wasn't allowed to scare you, now did you?" she teased him.

He managed to pull up to her again, just as they reached the small ones. "Shall we call it a tie?" he asked, amused.

"That _is_ fair," she agreed. Suddenly, he pointed ahead. "You don't need to do that to confuse me anymore, the race is over," she reminded him.

Shaking his head, he continued to point. "Up there! There is Cookie Country, on the horizon."

She 'smiled.' "We made even better time than you predicted, Sir Knight."

He nodded, serious again. "And that is a good thing, my friend. For time is of the essence."

"Poyo," Kirby agreed, and the clouds rumbled ominously to hail their arrival.


	15. World 4, Level 1

Their first afternoon spent in Cookie Country had gone pretty well. They had made good progress, even after Sakura told the others to avoid any Waddle Dee. At first, Kirby had stared at her in disbelief, but she had stormed, "The Waddle Dee never do anything to actively hurt anyone, if you run into them, that's your own fault for being clumsy. They just get sent to the front lines to get plowed over, and no one cares," her eyes flashed.

"I have to agree, sending the most peaceful and least capable soldiers to the front lines is despicable," Meta Knight mused as he sliced through a Knuckle Joe that leaped at him. "The Monstrous Lightning is a coward, just as DeDeDe is."

She had nodded firmly, jumping up and flapping over a Waddle Dee as she did so.

They had even made it to a mid-boss, a large Waddle Doo with electricity powers. It hadn't given them any trouble at all.

In fact, this was all too easy for Meta Knight. So easy, in fact, that he had taken to trying to guess whether certain enemies had come to fight voluntarily, or by force, to pass the time.

Now, they were in a cave, ready to rest for the night. "I'll take first watch tonight," Sakura announced.

Shaking his head, Meta Knight disagreed, "I can. I am not tired yet, my friend."

She shrugged. "I'm not either, really. Although the two little guys sure are." They had built a small campfire, which Bandana Dee and Kirby were sitting next to, as close as was safe. Snoring, peaceful, they were both even cuter than usual, if that was possible.

He stood up and drew his sword, holding it up so it began to glow. "We could duel for awhile, keep ourselves sharp," he suggested.

Hopping up, she nodded once. "Okay, but let's go a bit farther into the cave. We don't want to wake the Sleeping Cuties," she giggled a bit at her own joke.

He shrugged, unimpressed. "That sounds like a logical plan." He grabbed a torch, then they walked a bit farther into the cave. After wedging the torch between two rocks, where it was sturdy, they began to fight.

He won this time, much to her chagrin. "After we tied the race earlier, I wanted to win at this," she huffed and puffed, worn out.

He shook his head once, and as soon as he had caught his breath, reminded her, "Swordplay is not a competition, my friend. It is an art."

"It may be an art, but it is an art I like to be best at. I'm just a competitive Kirby Dee, I guess," she admitted. Then she heard something. "What was that?" she asked, a little bit concerned.

"I am not sure," he murmured, "But it is probably nothing to be worried about."

A wind blew past, blowing out the torch. Without even thinking about it, they both held their swords up. This produced enough light to see each other by, but not as well as they could with the torch.

"That was not just regular wind," he whispered. She started to reply, but he held his spare hand out, gesturing to her to be silent. "It is breathing."

"We can't possibly have covered enough ground today to be to the local boss already," she replied, almost too silently for him to hear. Gulping, she continued, "What could be big enough to breath that loudly, and why didn't we notice it before?"

"It must have been farther back in the cave when we arrived," he decided. "We should return to the other two. It would be wise to find somewhere else to stay for the night."

She nodded once, then realized he wasn't looking at her, so she whispered, "Okay. Should we put out the fire?"

"No, it will keep the monster from guessing we have caught on to the fact that it is here."

After gently waking Kirby and Bandana Dee up, they made their way to the exit as stealthily as possible. "We've made it," she whispered, relieved, but a fearful roar interrupted her. Something started to shake the walls, causing boulders to rain down, covering the entrance.

"You spoke too soon," Meta Knight sighed, glaring at her, as if her whisper had alerted the... whatever it was.

"Sorry," she quietly squeaked.

Kirby and Bandana Dee, who were both still on the edge of slumber, began to stumble off in two different directions. "No, don't!" she hissed. "Get back here!"

"I will go after Bandana Dee, you follow Kirby," he ordered when they, of course, didn't return right away.

"Okay," she agreed. But as soon as she had crossed the floor, separating the four heroes into different quadrants of the huge cavern, another roar echoed off the walls. Rocks fell down in a perfect X-shape, piling from the floor to the ceiling.

"It is a trap!" Meta Knight gasped aloud, a bit too late.

"Yeah, I kind of noticed," she murmured nervously. At least they could still hear each other. "Kirby? Bandana Dee? Are you okay?" she called. It didn't really matter anymore if they were heard or not, she decided.

"Kirby, poyo!" Kirby shouted. There was nothing from Bandana Dee.

"He cannot speak, how will we tell if he is not injured?" Meta Knight questioned calmly.

She thought for a second, then called out, "Bandana! Tap the tip of your spear against the rocks once for yes, two for no. Are you all right?" One _tap_ answered her. "Good," she sighed, relieved.

"We are separated, there is no way for us to help each other," Meta Knight said, still cool and collected.

"Does nothing frazzle you?!" she squealed, panicked.

He chuckled. "Very little ever does." His voice growing grave, he continued, "But your panicking will not help with anything. Do you understand, all of you?"

"Poyo!" came one voice.

_Tap._ went one quadrant.

"All right..." replied the last.

The cave grew light. "Did you do that, Sakura?" Meta Knight inquired, sounding fascinated.

"No. I think it's our monster that did," she told him.

"I see." After he had had a moment to observe his surroundings, he announced, "These rocks are too thick to dig through. Do each of you have a door in your quarter?"

"Poyo."

_Tap._

"Yes, sir."

"Good. It appears that the only way we will be able to get back together is if we first split up," he told them sagely. "Each of you should go through your door, I will as well. Stay vigilant, hopefully we will rendezvous soon."

Kirby left, nervously humming. Bandana Dee went his way as well, thumping the ground with the wooden part of his spear.

A few minutes passed. "Have you gone yet, Sakura? I cannot tell."

"No," she replied. "This is the first time I've been put in a position where fighting alone is a possibility. I'm not scared so much as..."

"Anxious? Nervous?" he asked kindly.

"Yeah," she whispered, shuddering a bit.

"You will be fine," his voice called out to her, growing fainter. "Do not keep the rest of us waiting because of your hesitation."

"Yes, sir," she replied, then shuddered again. She really was alone, now. Not just separated from her friends by a wall, but by who-knew-how-much space. Drawing her sword, she began cautiously down the tunnel that the door led to. She sang softly to herself to keep herself strong, hoping they would all find the others again quickly, without mishap. "They're strong, and you are too. This will be easy," she whispered, trying to convince herself.

"Master," the 'monster' muttered up to the sky. Invisible, it existed as almost just a breath of wind. Its blowing back and forth through the cave doing surveillance had made Meta Knight think there was a large monster, but in reality he had no way of attacking anyone himself. He was not defenseless, though, to be sure.

"Yes," a voice thundered down, bored-sounding. "Those 'heroes' aren't giving you any trouble, are they? They are tiny, _surely_ you can handle them."

"Of course, master," the one in the cave reassured him. "I have split them up, they have all wandered deeper into our trap."

"All right. Make sure they never find their way out, Waking Noddy, or you will be _sorry_."

"Of course, master," he agreed, chuckling darkly as he wound through the cave toward Meta Knight first. He could only deal with one hero at a time, might as well start with the hardest to break.

Waking Noddy had been just a simple Noddy once, but NME had turned him into something much more than that years before. Even though NME was long gone, he still retained his powers. He caused nightmares, just like a regular Noddy, but his happened while you were awake. You couldn't actually be harmed, but it was fun watching people go from being brave to curling up into tiny, weeping balls when faced with their worst fear. The only way anyone could get out is if they convinced themselves it wasn't real, a very difficult task indeed. Only a very few had ever succeeded in this before.

It soon caught up to Meta Knight, who was walking around in what was basically circles. "Now, little hero, what do you fear most? Always calm, cool, and collected, yet there must be something that frightens you," the monster thought, almost cheerfully. After studying the Star Warrior for a moment, he laughed to himself. "Mm, mm, I see. Prepare yourself, Star Warrior. Are you ready to be scared?"


	16. World 4, Level 2

Meta Knight was calmly walking around, completely oblivious to the fact that he was wandering in pointless circles. Sword drawn and ready to attack, he finally found a door. "Here we are," he sighed. "Hopefully the others have not found their way out before me."

He opened the door and walked in, and was astonished to find himself in his bedroom at the castle. "How can this be?" he questioned, confused. Opening the door again, he found that it led into the castle hallway now, not the cave. "This does not make sense..." he whispered, then frowned. His face felt strangely... light. He turned to a mirror, then nearly had a heart attack. "Where is my mask?!" he gasped, then began frantically searching for it.

There was a tap at the door. "Meh-uh Nait ugg raffen sanbo!" Blade's voice said.

"Yeah, what he said," Sword's voice agreed. "We need you, right now, sir."

"Please, wait just a moment. I am terribly busy," Meta Knight ordered, trying to remain calm. None of this made the least bit of sense. He had been in the cave, looking for a way out. How had he appeared here, and where could his mask have possibly have gone?

"It's urgent, sir," Sword tried again.

"Please, Sword. I said I was busy," Meta Knight snapped, tearing the room apart.

"Too busy to save Dreamland?" Sword pointed out, then after he heard a crash from inside, added, "Are you all right, sir?"

"Meska tuff ruff cossen?" Blade asked, sounding concerned.

"I have been better," he admitted, getting more and more frightened.

"I'm coming in there," Sword announced.

"No! Do not! I order you not to!" Meta Knight shouted, but enter they did.

"Kirby?" Sword asked, confused. "Where's Meta Knight? Why are you in his cloak? And why are you blue?"

"I am not Kirby, you fool. I am Meta Knight. I seem to have misplaced my mask. Help me find it!" he pleaded.

The two stared at him for a second, then collapsed in laughter. "And we were actually scared of you?!" Sword managed to gasp out.

"Har har dee maro tenn!" Blade agreed.

Meta Knight frowned. "Quit laughing at me. Just because I am adorable does not mean I can no longer best you in a swordfight." He pulled his cloak around himself in an attempt to warp away, but quickly discovered it wouldn't work. "Why is this? What is this madness?"

DeDeDe appeared, stomping mad. "All right, what is this ruckus about? It's the middle of the night, for cryin' out loud! Why, I-" he saw Meta Knight, who tried to duck his head in shame, but failed, seeing as how he was basically all head. "Why is Kirby blue?"

"That's not Kirby!" Sword guffawed, managing to stand back up. He paused for a second, then gasped out, "That's Meta Knight!" He collapsed back onto the floor again, still laughing.

"Wait, _you're_ Meta Knight?" DeDeDe asked, disbelievingly.

"Yes," Meta Knight almost whispered, his eyes looking at the ground. "I have dreaded this day for a very long time. Even now, I am not prepared for it."

DeDeDe stared for a second, then joined the laugh-fest. Running out of the room, he yelled, "Escargoon! Waddle Dee! Somebody get me my camera!"

"Is there any way this could get worse?" Meta Knight sighed, rubbing his forehead with one hand.

An exhausted looking Sakura walked in, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?" she yawned, then added, "Huh? Kirby? Why are you in Meta Knight's room?"

"Why do people keep confusing me with Kirby? I am twice his size, and blue!" he shouted, his eyes dark brown in distress, so upset he didn't even wonder how Sakura had gotten here. And he couldn't see that his maskless eyes had changed color, so that couldn't help him either.

"Meta Knight?" she asked, confused. "You're like Kirby?" She stared for a second, then shook her head. Slowly, she started to laugh too. "I thought you were, like, some creepy monster, or something. I actually looked up to you... I can't believe this!" Still laughing, she walked away. "I've learned enough from a puffball... I'm going to find a real Star Warrior to train me."

This was awful. He was panicking. Why would nobody look up to him anymore? He was still the one who wielded Galaxia! Taking flight, he tried to run away, something he did not want to do, but had to, even if the last thing he needed was to also be known as a coward.

As he flew over Sakura, though, he noticed something strange. "Your flower ribbon..."

She glanced up at him for an instant, then looked away. Scoffing, she huffed, "What about it, Sir Chibi?"

"It is on the wrong side of your head," he frowned, calming down a little.

"What?" she asked, seeming nervous, then quickly moving it to the other side of her head, continued, "No, it isn't. Losing your mask seems to have made you gone bananas."

"And the way you speak is not like the way you typically do," he added, then realization came into his eyes as he noticed strange little things all around him. "The Waddle Dees' spears are supposed to have red flags, not blue. That clock is supposed to be in a different hallway. You should still be in the cave, alone!"

"So? We... just... redecorated. And I flew back. Easy, there, Sir Chibi," she laughed lightly, but her eyes were darting around in nervousness.

"You are not really Sakura! None of you are really who you seem to be!" He landed, then grinned. Pointing his sword toward her, he concluded forcefully, "This is not real! It is simply... a nightmare!"

"Well, bleah to you too," she huffed. "You've made it out, but I still have your three friends to play with. I doubt they will be as hard to frighten as you have been, Sir Chibi." Its voice had changed to being much deeper as it talked, and she slowly faded away. The room gradually changed back to being the cave, a piece he hadn't been to before. A door was before him, and he saw faint moonlight at the end.

"I am almost positive that was some variety of Noddy. Definitely not a foe to be trifled with," he mused, then held his hands up to his face. His mask was still there, of course. He tested his cloak to make sure it could still warp by teleporting to the place with the moonlight. He sighed in relief, then flew up to hide in a tree and wait for the others to find their way out. "Be strong, all of you. It is nothing but a dream."

Kirby would have admitted it quickly, if there was someone to talk to. This cave was scary. "Dark, poyo. Drippy, poyo. No snacks, poyo," he whispered to himself. "Zero ten, no recommend."

He walked nervously through a door, then found himself on a hilltop near the castle. "Huh?" he murmured, confused. The hill was completely bare, as was the countryside around him. Where had all the snacks gone?

He heard footsteps coming up the side of the hill, so he quickly flapped behind a bush.

"Well, Mayor, I didn't find a thing today," he heard the Chief say tiredly. Kirby hadn't talked to him in a long time, he was surprised he still recognized his voice.

"I didn't either, Bookum. Things just haven't been the same since Kirby ate everything. We should've known he was just a menace from the start."

Kirby muttered, confused, "Eat _everything,_ poyo?"

"Did you hear that?" the Chief asked.

"It sounded like Kirby, but that cream puff wouldn't dare show his face. There's a reward on his head. Meta Knight's looking for him, and I heard one of the Waddle Dee was too, until she starved to death." the Mayor shook his head sadly as he walked past.

"Sakura, poyo?" Kirby jumped out and asked them. When they didn't understand and just glared at him, he tried, "Girl Waddle, poyo?!"

The Mayor practically spat out, "She starved to death, like I just said. It's all your fault too, you monster."

Kirby shook his head in distress. He didn't remember eating everything. When did this happen? Why couldn't he remember what must've been the best hour of his life? Why did he do this?

"I'll go get Meta Knight," the Chief announced. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't let Kirby get away!"

Kirby jumped over the Mayor and flapped off toward the castle, as fast as he could. "Sakura, poyo," he sighed mournfully. He had to find her, she had to be there somewhere. Being a little kid, he didn't really get the idea of death yet. All he understood was that the Cappys had said she was hurt, somehow, because he ate all the food. How could he have done something like this to his closest friend?

At the castle, there weren't nearly as many Waddle Dee as normal, and the ones that were there looked tired and sick. What had he done? he fretted. As soon as they saw him, they glared angrily at him and backed out of his way.

"Kirby. You dare to show your face?" he heard Meta Knight say softly, angrily, from behind him.

Kirby gulped and turned around. "Meta Knight, poyo," he whimpered, tears in his eyes. "Where Sakura, poyo?"

"She is gone forever, and it is your fault. I thought you were a Star Warrior like me, but in reality, you are just a monster." His eyes were red in anger as he stared at Kirby.

Kirby shook his head as hard as he could, really crying now. "No, poyo, no! Kirby not eat everything, poyo!"

"Do not play cute with me, I know what you really are now!" Meta Knight thundered, leaping up, prepared to strike.

Still crying, Kirby took off, flying as fast as he could to Sakura's place in the library. All that was there was a pile of books, a cape, and a sword. "No!" he shouted. "No! Sakura, where you?"

DeDeDe appeared out of nowhere. "There you are, Kirby! You ate all the food! You'd better be prepared for a good hammerin'!"

Kirby frowned through his tears and walked over to DeDeDe, resigned to his fate, when he noticed something odd. DeDeDe was still fat. If there was no food, how was DeDeDe fat? And, more importantly, how had he found Meta Knight's secret library? "DeDeDe wrong, poyo," he muttered, staring at the king in confusion.

"What are you talking about, you menace?" DeDeDe roared.

Kirby's face changed to a look of determination. He couldn't remember eating the food, because he never had. This was all made up. Someone was just trying to scare him.

"Pretend, poyo! Pretend, poyo!" he roared, over and over again. Closing his eyes as tight as he could, he kept shouting it until he believed it. "Pretend, poyo!" After a few minutes of this, he opened his eyes. Everything was gone, he was in the cave again, and he could see his way out. Running as quickly as he could, he ran out into the moonlight, then curled up in the grass and starting crying again.

Meta Knight appeared out of nowhere. "Kirby! What is wrong, my small friend?"

"No Kirby eat everything, poyo!" Kirby wept, crawling into Meta Knight's arms and hiding his face in the bigger Star Warrior's cloak. "No Sakura gone, poyo!"

Meta Knight looked down at Kirby, his eyes a sympathetic blue. "It was all a dream, little one. It is over now."

Kirby nodded, still crying for a few minutes. "Where Sakura, poyo?" he whimpered.

"She is still inside. She may very well be fighting her waking nightmare right now," Meta Knight murmured.

Kirby sniffled, then wiped his eyes. "She okay, poyo?"

Meta Knight nodded once, staring sadly off into space. "I assume that is true. But, I cannot know for sure. All we can do is sit here and wait for the other two, and hope they can be brave." He turned back to Kirby, and whispered proudly, "You made it out, little one. You were _very_ brave."

Kirby nodded in a sad-but-proud way. "Kirby brave," he sighed, then fell into a light sleep. Meta Knight carried him up into the tree, then resumed anxiously staring at the cave exit, carefully searching for the slightest bit of movement.


	17. World 4, Level 3

Bandana Dee wandered through the cavern nervously, jumping at every little sound and swinging his spear at nothing. He was a brave Waddle Dee, sure. But even a brave Waddle Dee is still not a lion-heart.

_I sure wish I was at home._ _Me and Kirby could prank the king, Sakura could read to us, we could eat shortcake. It'd all be good. But no. We have to go on this dumb quest._

Yet another stalactite dripped a drop of water onto the floor, and he jumped about four feet in the air for the third time in as many minutes. _Just water, just water,_ he thought, taking deep breaths. _I wonder if the others have made it out yet? I'm hope I'm not the last one out... Kirby'd think I'm such a wimp._

He found a door. _Oh, good, the exit,_ he relaxed and walked through, then couldn't believe his eyes when he appeared in the Waddle Dee sleeping room. He was so surprised, he dropped his spear.

_What? How did I get here? Oh, well. I'm home!_ He gave a mental sigh of happiness and went to pick his spear back up, but it had disappeared. His head felt weird, too, so he reached up and felt his head. _My bandana and spear! Where'd they go?_ he wondered, confused.

Suddenly his head was full of voices, all talking about chores and work and other boring stuff. _Why on earth am I part of the one mind again?!_ he panicked.

A Waddle Dee sweeping the sleeping shelves looked at him. _You never quit being part of the one mind,_ it thought at him. _Don't be ridiculous, now, why don't you go find some way to serve?_

_Uh-uh, no way,_ he disagreed, shaking his head hard. _I'm not being a servant again!_

_Did you ever quit?_ the other asked, disbelieving.

_This is really weird,_ Bandana Dee mentally muttered.

_I'll say it is,_ another Waddle Dee agreed as it walked past carrying the king's lunch. _Seeing a Waddle Dee not working is always really weird._

_No, it's weird that I can hear you guys,_ Bandana argued, glaring at him._ I got kicked out, and I sure don't want back in._

The other Waddle Dee shrugged. _We practically never 'kick' anybody out,_ it disagreed. _In fact, we're having someone rejoin us today after supper. Now go find someone to serve._

He felt less like disagreeing now, which was strange, but whatever. He waddled off and helped a few Waddle Dee who were washing some windows, why, he didn't know.

As the day went on, though, he became more and more frightened. _Why am I not fighting? Why am I just doing all the chores? Why aren't I thinking out of the box anymore?_ he puzzled, then scared himself even more when he mentally answered with, _Who cares? Just serve some more._

Even later, he was sent to take in the king's tea. When he accidentally dumped it all over the place because the king threw a fit, he didn't feel mad at the king for it. He just automatically went and got another cup of tea, then sat there patiently while he got reamed out for taking so long. _What is wrong with you, dude?!_ a tiny bit of him panicked, but the rest of him ignored that bit.

The final blow, though, came after supper. All the Waddle Dee had gathered in the sleeping quarters, excited. Even he felt sort of strangely happy, but that happiness disappeared when he saw who was coming back.

"I'm tired of fighting and being someone special," Sakura's voice came from the front of the room. "I'm hanging up my sword and abandoning my speech and Pink-Devourer-like powers. I want to serve with you all again." She threw the flower off her head onto the floor, and suddenly his head filled with cheers, including hers, now.

_No!_ he ran over and thought at her, as loudly as he could. _No! You're the one that taught me to not just put up with slavery! Why are you coming back?!_

She gave him a strange look. _Why wouldn't I want to come back? This is where I belong. We're just Waddle Dee. It's not our job to be the heroes, let The Pink Devourer and Scary Sword Man do that. We're meant to serve!_ she finished in a gleeful mental shout. All the other Waddle Dee roared their approval.

He shook his head, quickly at first, but then slower and slower. She had a point. He could never be a hero. He began to shiver in fear and sadness. Waddle Dee could only be Waddle Dee. He had always known that, deep inside of him somewhere. He had wanted to be a hero, but Waddle Dee couldn't really do that. Even Sakura had eventually agreed, so why shouldn't he? _You're right,_ he thought mournfully. _Let's get serving._ The Waddle Dee cheered again, as his worst fear came to life before his eyes. He had quit fighting.

What felt like days (but in reality was a couple of hours) went slowly past, as he continued to serve. Every so often, he felt sad and scared, like something wasn't right, like he was supposed to be somewhere else. But even that slowly began to fade away.

Until one 'day,' when something weird happened. All the Waddle Dee seemed almost bored. _This can't possibly be his worst fear. He just quit. It wasn't fun or anything,_ he heard one of the others thinking. When he gave it a strange look, it shrugged apologetically at him and waddled off.

This_ is my worst fear? Just that I'm forced to resume serving?_ he thought, then mentally exclaimed in joy,_ Dude! I'm pretty brave! Who says I can't be a hero?_

He suddenly remembered where he actually was. _I'm in the cave. I bet some monster is trying to scare me. Well, too bad, monster! I'm not really scared of much of anything!_ He laughed and laughed in his head. _This isn't real! It's just the worst nightmare you dumb monster could find to give me! For I am..._ he paused, then sang out in his head, superhero-style, _BANDANA DEEEEEE!_

The castle faded away, leaving him in the cave again. Quickly noticing the way out and that he had his spear and bandana again, he joyfully ran out, then did a victory dance.

Meta Knight flew down out of a tree. "So, you are the third one out?" he asked.

Bandana Dee nodded proudly.

"Well, if you are happy now, it cannot have been too frightful. But it has been hours since Kirby came out..." he frowned deeply to himself. "Did you really take that long, or did Sakura give up before it found you?"

Bandana Dee just shrugged at him, having no way of answering.

"I have to find her," he declared, walking back into the cave. Without turning back, he ordered, "You and Kirby stay here!"

Sakura shivered in the cold, dark cave. She had been wandering for hours and hours, trying to find her way out. (Of course, _we_ know she couldn't, because she had been waiting for her turn to face her worst fear. It wasn't her fault Bandana had taken such a ridiculously long time, after all.)

"Face it, Sakura," she sighed, sitting down against the wall. "You're lost."

The monster blew past her, and she jumped up and drew her sword.

Muttering softly, it told her, "You're the last of the four."

"Did the others make it? Or did you defeat them, whatever you are?" she asked angrily. "Answer me!"

It ignored her. "Your old worst fear was being swallowed by the little pink hero, but now, you have different fears. Failure, rejection, still having a Waddle Dee's memory, being completely and totally alone. But which is your worst nightmare?"

Gulping, she shouted, "What does that matter? I'm not sc-scared of you!"

It chuckled, then blew away. Fading, she heard its voice finish, "Why not combine them all?"

She noticed a door and eagerly walked through. "Finally! A way-" she stopped suddenly. "The library? Why am I back in the library?"

The door suddenly slammed open. "Sakura," she heard Meta Knight hiss her name, as if it was a bad word.

Jumping in surprise, she spun around to face him. "How did we get back to the castle?" she asked nervously. "Why are you mad at me? Your eyes are red."

"Of course they are. You have failed us all. You are a pathetic coward!" he shouted at her in rage.

"What do you mean? How have I failed?" she yelled back, getting mad as well. "There's no reason for you to be mad at me, that's unfair!"

Drawing his sword, he spoke to her as if she was a stupid person. "In the final battle, when we needed you most, you ran away. We were unable to defeat the Monstrous Lightning on our own, and now, Dreamland will be covered in darkness forever. Without sunlight, we will all _die_."

"What? I don't remember finding the Monstrous Lightning! Where was he?" she yelled back, her sword out now too.

Meta Knight seemed taken aback for just a second, but then he continued, "If you cannot remember, I will not explain." Suddenly, he slid his sword back into its sheath. "Why am I wasting my time? You are not even worth dueling. You are a _complete and total failure._"

She shuddered. "I'm sorry!" she muttered, tears appearing in her eyes. "I don't remember being a failure!"

"Of course not," he sighed, walking away. "You have a poor memory, for you are just a simple, pathetic Waddle Dee. Maybe they would be willing to take you back in, they are all just failures as well."

She started to sob. "Y-you're right. If I ran away when you most needed me to serve you, I really am a failure."

"Agreed," he nodded once, still looking away from her. "Now leave me. I never want to be able to tell you apart from another Waddle Dee again."

She nodded, still sobbing, as she left her cape, sword, and flower on the floor. "I will not fail you in that respect, sir."

She left the library and went to where the other Waddle Dee were, but even they didn't want her back.

"Nobody wants a failure," she muttered to herself, sitting down sadly under a tree in the courtyard. "Especially not a failure who can't even remember how she failed," she shivered, now all alone. She hated being alone, she always had.

She sat there for a while, then, frowning, she suddenly muttered, "The monster wanted to know what my worst fear was... is this all just... a dream? I'm not sure..."

"Oh, I hate wishy-washy types!" she heard the voice from earlier groan. Whining, it continued, "'Is it for real?' 'Is this a dream?' Well, how about this, then?" In front of her appeared a giant Noddy, who was around ten times her size. "If you won't have a nightmare, how about you just fight me?"

"But you're just a Noddy!" she began to laugh. "This has all been just a dream, because you're just a Noddy!"

"Not just any Noddy, fool! I am Waking Noddy! And you, little hero, are alone and defenseless!"

"No longer!" she heard Meta Knight shout, flying in with her things in hand. He tossed them to her, and she quickly prepared herself. "I knew you were a Noddy! And even if you are better at causing nightmares, you still have no way to attack and cause harm!"

"Is that so?" Waking Noddy hissed, making the floor fall out from under them. Sakura screamed, but then noticed that Meta Knight seemed to be standing in mid-air.

"Everything he does is an illusion! He cannot do anything to us in reality!" he told her.

She nodded, soon finding herself also standing firm on invisible ground.

Waking Noddy sent waves of monsters at them, but the heroes ignored them and let them fly past. They did so without incident, for they were only imaginary.

"I can still torture you!" he reminded them, starting to sound worried. Turning to Sakura, he shouted, "I can make you think he no longer wants you as a pupil!" To Meta Knight, "I can make you think your mask is gone, in front of your friend!"

"Maybe so," Sakura said, growing braver. "But the emphasis is on the 'think.' The other will see that it is a lie. Whatever you do to one of us, it will not affect the other. We'll just help each other through!"

Nodding proudly, Meta Knight informed her, "The only way to defeat him is two strikes, simultaneously. Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," she agreed, sword drawn.

"On three. One."

"Two!" she replied.

"Three!" he shouted, and they jumped at the monster.

"Fools!" he shouted as he faded away. "You will never find my master! You are still doomed to eternal darkness!"

"Not true!" Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that's going to be gone too, as soon as a nightmare!"

"You have done well, Sakura," Meta Knight told her. "That was bravery worthy of a Star Warrior."

"Thank you, Sir Knight," she 'smiled.' "Where are the others?"

Turning and beginning to lead her out, he explained, "Outside. You were the last, but I think it is because Bandana Dee took a ludicrous amount of time to make it out of his nightmare that it has taken so long."

"Poor guy," she sighed as they walked out into the slightly lighter sky. It must've been about dawn.

"Whatever it was, it does not seem to have been that bad, for he came out dancing. Kirby, on the other hand..." he shook his head. "The poor child seemed to think he had killed you, somehow."

Shuddering a bit, she murmured, "That's terrible. Mine was that nobody wanted me anymore, that I was a failure, a coward, and that my memory was failing. What was yours?"

He shuddered. "I do not wish to talk about it, but trust me. I was definitely 'frazzled,' as you put it earlier." He turned to her as they arrived under the tree. "Just promise me you will never call me 'Sir Chibi.'"

Staring at him in confusion, she agreed, "Um, okay... But what does that even mean?"

"Do not worry yourself about it. I am just glad that it is over," he sighed. "Let us get a little bit of rest before we continue our journey. It has been a long night."

She nodded, and they both flapped up into the tree to find Kirby and Bandana Dee perfectly fine. Kirby woke up just long enough to crawl into her arms, relieved, and go back to sleep. Soon after, she and Meta Knight both joined their friends in peaceful slumber.


	18. World 4, Level 4

They all awoke that afternoon. Meta Knight passed out some bread he had brought from the castle, and after a quick breakfast/lunch, they all got back to work.

The rest of Cookie Country went by fairly quickly. The boss was a Poppy Bros. Senior with a chef's hat that threw cookies at them. It buried them all in the crispy pastries, except Meta Knight, who deftly evaded the attacks with his typical skill. "Give me your cookies! I fear them not!" he had shouted at it bravely, jumping up and slicing through it with Galaxia.

"Finally," Sakura sighed after he had defeated it, she had clambered out of the mountain of sugar cookies and shortbread, and had helped the smaller half of their party out as well. "Something cookie-related. I was beginning to think Cookie Country was completely cookie-less."

Meta Knight chuckled as he picked up a small pouch that had been left behind when the monster had faded away. "Cappys named all of the places in Dreamland, and they do not tend to be very literal."

Laughing, she agreed, "I'll say." Noticing the pouch in his hand, she asked, "What's that?"

He opened it, then told her, "Cookies, it appears."

"Yummy, poyo!" Kirby exclaimed, running over and grabbing the pouch, the contents of which he quickly started inhaling.

Sakura snatched it away from him. "Those are Meta Knight's, Kirby. He won them, fair and square."

Kirby stuck his tongue out at her. "Meh, poyo." He waddled off and started dancing with Bandana Dee.

"What are you doing?" she asked, amused.

"Always do this after boss, poyo!" Kirby told her gleefully as he did a cartwheel. Bandana Dee slid by, doing a moonwalk. "Dance, Sakura, poyo! Dance!"

She rolled her eyes and giggled, "All right." Spreading her wings, she did a sort of air-ballet over the little two. "Come on, Sir Knight. Join us, it's fun."

He watched them with amused green eyes, but shook his head. "No, you three seem to have the victory dancing taken care of."

"Stick-in-the-mud, poyo," Kirby rolled his eyes and finished off his part by holding his hand above his head. "Tada, poyo!" Bandana's finale was a headstand, and Sakura did a mid-air pirouette.

"That _was_ fun," she admitted, landing on the ground and letting her feathery cherry-blossom-colored angel-wings return to being a cape.

Meta Knight shrugged, his attention elsewhere. "That is strange," he muttered to himself.

"What?" she asked, walking over.

"Before Kirby began to inhale them, there appeared to be four cookies. There are still four cookies visible in the pouch."

"Huh. Try dumping them out," she suggested.

He did so, and they quickly had a rather large pile of cookies at their feet, but the bag still didn't run out.

"Well, Sir Knight, you seem to have found a lifetime supply of cookies," she laughed.

Bandana Dee and Kirby eagerly ran over. Giving his buddy a sideways glance, Kirby announced, "Betcha Kirby eat more, poyo."

Bandana Dee shook his head in almost-offended disagreement, and the two quickly started devouring the pile. Sakura sighed and shook her head. "You two are bottomless pits."

"Yep, poyo," Kirby agreed, grinning at her with a chocolate-chip covered face.

After a few minutes, Meta Knight declared, "We need to keep going."

"Where to now?" she asked.

"How about the land of Green Greens?" he suggested. "We have clearly not found our ultimate foe here." She nodded once in agreement.

The two little guys were not happy about being dragged away from their snack, but Meta Knight eventually let them have the pouch to keep them busy.

"They're going to make themselves sick," Sakura scolded.

Shaking his head as they flew, Meta Knight disagreed, "I do not think so. As you said earlier, their stomachs seem to have no end to their capacity."

She shrugged. It wasn't worth having a fight over, and besides, Meta Knight was _always_ right.

Days passed. The monster was in none of the worlds they visited. Green Greens, Float Islands, Onion Ocean, Raisin Ruins, Castle Lololo. All of these places passed by without any real event. They'd clear out the local monster infestation, take on a mid-boss or two and a main boss, and end up nowhere closer to finding the Monstrous Lightning.

Every day, the skies grew darker and darker, and there was less and less clear time at night.

"He grows stronger," Meta Knight worried late one evening in Nutty Noon, as a huge storm came up, halting their progress. They found a hut to weather it out in, but the two little ones were really scared. Sakura was nervous too. The lightning was brighter than any she had seen before, the thunder louder than any she had ever heard. The strangest part was, there was no rain, so the land received no benefit from this unnatural rage. The wind pounded against the hut, but thankfully, they were safe inside.

Kirby whimpered and snuggled close to her on one side, Bandana on the other. "Scary, poyo."

"It's going to be all right," she reassured them. As the storm started to calm down some, she started to sing softly in the Waddle Dee language. The two little ones quickly fell asleep, still snuggled so close she could feel their heartbeats. She let her cape turn into wings, curling one protectively around both of her small friends as a sort of blanket.

"That song was very pretty. Can you sing it again, in our language?" Meta Knight asked, his eyes a concerned shade of blue in the corner, next to a small window. She knew he wasn't going to admit it, but obviously, he had found the song soothing as well.

"Sure," she said softly, then began again,

"All have been well-fed, Rest has been well-earned. Close your heavy eyes, and sleep my child. When the sun comes back, we will rise again, so close your heavy eyes, and sleep till then.

"I am glad to have served you, and you are glad to have served me. If we all served one another, what a wonderful land this could be," she yawned as she finished. "That's an approximate translation, anyway. It's soothing, but it still carries an important message for the Waddle Dee children."

"It was lovely. It sounded familiar, like something I have heard before, a very long time ago," he told her, his eyes on the weather outside.

"I don't know, I thought I had written it myself. I came up with it years ago when I worked in the nursery, to calm the little ones when they cried," she told him.

He turned to her, his eyes a curious deep green. "Waddle Dee can cry?"

Nodding, she replied, "Of course. It's just that only the other Waddle Dee can hear it. Trust me, it might not bother any other inhabitants of the castle, but I've spent many a sleepless night rocking some little one who had had a nightmare, or something."

Turning away again, he mused, "That sounds like something you would be good at. You are very good with Kirby and his friend."

"Thank you," she 'smiled,' even though she knew he couldn't see her, then yawned again. "I was the only girl, so I worked in the nursery a _lot_."

"I have wondered about that. If you are the only girl, where do Waddle Dee come from?" he inquired. "If that is not too personal of a query."

"Don't worry, it's not," she reassured him. "Once a year, we have the 'Birthday.' If it's been a good year, around three hundred Waddle Dee participate, more if it hasn't been so good. All of the oldest Waddle Dee just suddenly disappear, and in their place is two new children. The two new ones share none of the traits of the old, so the original individual is lost forever," she explained.

"That is terrible," he said, his eyes a sad dark blue.

She shook her head. "Actually, for a Waddle Dee, it's the best way to go. 'There is no greater way to serve a friend, than to lay down one's life,'" she quoted from who-knows-where. "We haven't been having that good of years lately, I probably would've been one of the ones to go this past spring."

"Well then, I am even more glad that you received your powers when you did. It is good to have someone who matches me in skill. Life was very dull before," he shook his head sadly. "It would be a much darker world if you had not become what you are, Sakura."

She 'smiled' gratefully, then continued, "I always kind of dreaded the day when I'd be one of the ones leaving during the 'Birthday,' but it's easier when you remember that someone did that so there'd _be_ a you. And like I said, most of us consider it an honor. It's just part of our life cycle. Besides, there's not that much individuality among the Waddle Dee. One leaves, two come, it hardly feels different."

He nodded, but disagreed, "Even so, I cannot imagine how they would be able to do that without any regret or fear. It would take a lot of courage, every bit as much as I myself possess."

"Like I said way back when we met, Waddle Dee are very brave, strong creatures. Others just don't realize that, because they don't really know much about us or our customs," Sakura murmured sleepily.

"There is one thing I do not understand. If you do not support the Waddle Dee being forced into slavery, why does your song speak of serving?" he pondered out loud to his friend.

"True, I don't support slavery, or the way the king treats us. But if everyone did serve one another, just with little things even, think how much better the world really _would_ be. If people just did things like held the door for one another, helped someone carry a heavy load, listened when someone needed a sympathetic ear. That's something the Waddle Dee have gotten right that no one else seems to be able to. If a Waddle Dee sees someone, _anyone_, who requires assistance, they jump right in, without wasting half a thought on personal gain," she finished, then closed her eyes and drifted off, from one Dreamland into another.

He watched his three sleeping companions for awhile, then turned back to the window. Speaking to himself almost silently, he pondered aloud, "'There is no greater way to serve a friend, than to lay down one's life.' That sounds a lot like the Star Warrior saying, 'Greater love has no one than this, than someone who lays down his life for his friends,' only using 'serve' instead of 'love.' Interesting."

He then realized something. Whenever Sakura helped anyone back at the castle, by doing things like fetching Sword a candle when he was studying at night in the library, or giving a Waddle Dee a basket of pastries she had made to share with the others, she always told them, "I have served you." But, whenever she did anything for him, Kirby, or Bandana Dee, she always finished with, "I am glad to have served you," like in the lullaby she had sang earlier.

"I am glad to have served you," he whispered to himself. "Is that the Waddle Dee way of saying 'I love you?'" A warm smile spread across his face under his mask as he unraveled yet another mystery of the Waddle Dee and looked over at his friend fondly. "The Waddle Dee really are not just the simple creatures we have long assumed them to be, and Sakura is definite proof of that."

Over against the opposite wall, Kirby yawned and blinked open his eyes. Looking over at Meta Knight, he questioned, "Want Kirby take turn, poyo? Meta Knight rest, poyo?"

Meta Knight shook his head kindly. "You need your rest more than I need mine, my young friend. Besides, the three of you look comfortable."

Kirby grinned sleepily and nodded, then quickly zonked out again. Bandana stretched in his sleep, and Sakura sighed, deep in some hopefully-pleasant dream.

On every quest before, Meta Knight had felt all alone whenever he took watch at night while the others slept. But here, now, it did not seem like that at all. Now, even as one of the worst foes Dreamland had ever faced raged outside, he felt happy, and at peace.

A warm smile still on his face, he wrapped his cloak around himself to guard against the chill in the air. He then began to quietly sing Sakura's song to himself, his contently-glowing blue eyes the only light in the room between the many, many lightning strikes.


	19. World 5, Level 1

**(Just wanted to say a quick thank you to WritingMagic for giving me the idea for the Star Power. Please check out her stories/give her a follow! Thanks! Anyway, enjoy! :D)**

The day dawned bright and clear. Read that sentence again: The day dawned bright and clear.

"What in Dreamland?..." Sakura gasped when she awoke to sunlight on her face. Meta Knight was asleep in the corner, so she went and shook him awake. "Meta Knight, it's sunny! What's going on?"

He mumbled something about wanting to join a Warp Star race and turned so he faced a different direction. Rolling her eyes, she inhaled and then blew a puff of air at him. He leapt up quickly and drew his sword, then relaxed when he saw it was just her. "Sakura. Did you_ have_ to startle me?"

"Um, yes actually, I did. If you haven't noticed, it's sunny. _Why_ is it sunny?"

He frowned as he, too, became aware of this strange fact. "That cannot be right..."

"Have we not been able to find the Monstrous Lightning because he isn't really here? Did we just have some stormy weather for a couple of weeks?" she wondered aloud.

"I do not think that is the case," he murmured, stepping outside of the hut.

She followed him, then quickly discovered she hadn't realized just how much she had missed the sunshine until now. It felt warm and lovely on her face, and filled her with the emotion of seeing an old friend again after a long time. Sighing happily, she said, "I'm going to go get the kids. They'll be happy to see the sun again too."

As she stepped back into the hut, he puzzled these happenings thoughtfully. "Those were most definitely not just typical storms, I am _sure_ the Monstrous Lightning is here. But where has he gone? Where was he to begin with?"

Kirby and Bandana Dee came racing out of the hut joyfully, and Kirby jumped up on Meta Knight's back, knocking him over. Giggling, Kirby shouted, "Sunny, Meta Knight poyo!"

Rolling his eyes and sighing, Meta Knight stood up and let his cloak turn into wings, making Kirby tumble to the ground. "Yes, Kirby. I am perfectly aware it is bright out today."

Kirby pouted, a bit hurt. "Got out wrong side bed, poyo."

Sakura also strolled back out, just as happy as the two little ones. "Well, should we take advantage of this good weather and get a move on?"

"I suppose that is the most logical course to follow," Meta Knight nodded once, then took off, the others following not far behind.

_You may have fooled the others, but you have not fooled me. I will be even more watchful now, _he thought determinedly to himself. He had been fooled by an enemy once before, he would not let it happen again.

"Have we convinced them?" the Monstrous Lightning asked his small assistant. He had found this pathetic little guy struggling to get his starship through space. Muttering something about how he hated all Star Warriors, and how _he_ really deserved that crown, not that stupid dragon, this 'Magolor' had been taken completely by surprise when the monster shocked his ship into not even having lights anymore.

"Hey, what did you do that for?!" he had shouted angrily in a pip-squeaky voice. "Can't you see I'm struggling to even get home?"

"So, you have a grudge against some Star Warriors. Well, according to the prophecies, the only things standing in my way of having the universe as my own is two of these 'Star Warriors' and a couple of pathetic creatures known as Waddle Dee. One of those has the powers of a Star Warrior, but even with three who have power, they'd still be doomed if we worked together," the Monstrous Lightning had explained through the ship's PA system.

"Two Star Warriors, huh? That'd be Kirby and his mysterious friend, Mega Knight or whatever his name was," Magolor had shrugged. "They had a Waddle Dee with them, but he didn't have any special Star Warrior powers. They're not that smart, though, I tricked them into rebuilding my ship. And then, if that weren't enough, into fighting a dragon for me, too."

"Well, obviously, they were smart enough to eventually defeat you," the Monstrous Lightning had pointed out, somewhat amused.

"Yeah, but only after I basically spelled it out for them. I managed to convince them I was a goodguy again and leave by building Kirby a playground, but to tell the truth, I'm ready to pound all of them. I'm just not strong (or stupid) enough to do anything like that, so I'm going home," the little two-face had explained.

Chuckling darkly, the giant spark had suggested, "What say we take them on together?"

Magolor had disagreed at first, but after just the tiniest (okay, fairly big) bit of mind control, he was perfectly willing. "So, what should we do first, Master?"

"Well, you are to be the brains of this operation, seeing as how I have none," the monster had lied. Obviously, he would get rid of him when the derp had outlived his usefulness. "What do you suggest we do? I have already covered their planet with terrible storms, and I have not even arrived there yet. I tried to stop them by giving them nightmares, but they thought their way out of them," the Monstrous Lightning had grunted.

"That's a surprise. I didn't even know they could think," the little weasel had muttered, then continued, "I suggest you pull back the storms, try to trick them into thinking they were wrong, that you haven't really gotten there yet. Which you haven't, of course. But, it'll give us time to get there, and then we can send a taskforce to get them. Boom! No more heroes. Sound good, Master?" The Monstrous Lightning had readily agreed.

Now, Magolor nodded. "I think they've been fooled, all except Meta Knot, or whatever his name is. He was the one that was the most suspicious of me last time, so maybe he's wised up. Even the super-powered Waddle Dee is pretty close to being fooled though, I think."

The Monstrous Lightning, now outside the ship again, bobbed up and down in his way of nodding, then gave an evil laugh. "As soon as I really take them on, they will be done for. And it's going to be a game-over sequence for at least one of them, for the prophecies say so. And believe me, I will not rest until it_ is_ so."

Three-quarters of the heroes' party was still happy, but the other fourth still seemed rather snappy. "Oh, come on, Sir Knight. Be happy for once. Can't you just accept our good luck?" Sakura sighed. "Quit raining on our parade when the real rain has finally stopped!"

"There has not been rain in any of the last several storms," he pointed out, glaring straight ahead.

"Whatever. You don't have to be so... grumpy," she huffed.

Up ahead, Kirby called for his Warp Star, and him and Bandana Dee started taking turns riding it. Kirby, being a young Star Warrior, was a lot better at it, but for a Waddle Dee, Bandana did really well.

"Where'd Kirby get that, anyway?" she asked suddenly. Maybe talking about something Star Warrior-related would cheer him up some, she figured.

He glanced over at her. "Every young Star Warrior has one," he said, then left it at that. He seemed to be almost nervous, she observed. Why couldn't he just accept their good fortune for the time being? Who knew when the storms would return?

"Do you have to be suspicious of everything?" she sighed exasperatedly. "I explained a lot of Waddle Dee stuff to you last night, explain the Warp Star to me now. It's only fair."

He hesitated, then nodded once. "Very well. The whole universe is guided by an entity known as the Star Power. The Star Power, if it chooses to, can speak to those whom it chooses, or even lend a hero help, like by making one even stronger in one's time of deepest need. It can help one keep going when one thinks they have given all they can."

"Okay?" she prompted, now gliding upside-down out of boredom, unsure what this had to do with the Warp Star.

Giving her an annoyed look, he continued, "When we are young, we cannot sense this power without aid. So, we are each given a Warp Star. These help us to learn how to feel and move with the Star Power, plus they are a source of entertainment for children. I was once very skilled at Warp Star racing, many years ago."

Disbelieving, she questioned as she did a sort of flip, "You were a kid once? I find it pretty much impossible to imagine you as a kid."

"Do not be ridiculous, Sakura. Everyone is a child once. And there are those of us who seem to hold onto that childlike quality longer than some," he looked at her pointedly as she did a loop-de-loop through the one small white cloud in the sky, causing it to disappear.

"Is that a compliment, or an insult?" she asked, sounding a bit irritated. Offended, she quit free-styling and resumed flying monotonously next to him.

"It is a bit of both," he admitted, the tiniest bit of a smile in his voice. "Anyway, each Star Warrior eventually has a time when they first sense the Star Power on their own. Oftentimes, this is also the time when they receive their special weapon or tool, as well as when they earn their name. I received my cloak at the same time I received the name Meta."

"Why were you just Meta, and not Meta Knight?" she inquired.

"That is_ not_ the topic we are discussing," he snapped, then softened a bit. "I apologize, but I do not share many details of my past with anyone."

"Sor-ry," she humphed, a little bit hurt.

"As I was saying, when we can sense the Star Power ourselves, we no longer need our Warp Star. They shrink down to even smaller than their normal storage size, and become our insignia, our identifying mark for when we fight. I still have mine, back at the castle," he finished. Flapping off, he told her, "That is all I have to say on the matter."

"Grump-bucket," she muttered, then flew ahead to join the little ones. "Hey, Kirby! Can I have a turn?"

Grinning, Kirby agreed eagerly. He didn't have his Wing ability anymore, so he had been just floating lately. She gave him a second feather. "We don't want Meta Grump to have any reason to yell at us, like for being slow, do we?" she winked as he giggled and inhaled it.

"Meta Grump, poyo," he giggled again, apparently liking the sound of it.

She landed on the Warp Star as Kirby jumped off. For a moment, she was wobbly, but she quickly found her balance. For a few minutes, all she could do was fly it, but before long at all, she was pulling all sorts of tricks. "Woohoo!" she whooped as she flew past Meta Knight, then practically screamed with joy, "This is awesome!"

He looked at her in something resembling amusement, but his eyes didn't change from being yellow. "I see you seem to have a natural talent for the Warp Star."

"I guess so," she agreed, giggling. Not long after, Kirby made her give it back, but as soon as he and Bandana Dee had finished with it again, she took another turn. "I like this thing. I really, really like this thing!"

Meta Knight sighed, exasperated. "Why can you not be serious?"

"Why should I be serious right now? We have a day with good weather! Lighten up!" she rolled her eyes at him.

"That is precisely why you should be serious!" he virtually roared at her, his eyes suddenly red. "Our foe is obviously trying to trick us. You should be carefully observing, not fooling around like a child!"

Her eyes narrowed. "You know what? If all you're going to do is be cranky, you can go do that somewhere else."

"Very well. But when you are attacked by some monster and you do not have my assistance, then you will find yourself much regretting this... idiocy," he growled. Turning his wings back into a cloak, he suddenly warped away right out of the air.

"Who needs him?" she harrumphed. Kirby and Bandana Dee nodded firmly. "Besides, he'll be back soon enough. You guys just wait and see."

"My turn, poyo!" Kirby announced, not worried about the past couple minutes' events in the least.

"Fine. For just a minute," she giggled and jumped off, not noticing the few stormy clouds appearing off in a far corner of the sky.


	20. World 5, Level 2

Meta Knight sighed as he warped back into reality on the ground, not too far ahead of where the others were. "I should stay close to them, in case they really would need my assistance," he muttered, just a little bit hurt. Sakura of all people should have understood his concern, but she was too busy enjoying the nice weather. He would be have been perfectly happy to just savor the warmth on his wings as well, but he had every conviction that this would simply turn out to be a trap.

He went on like this the rest of the afternoon and evening. He'd warp ahead a ways and then wait until he heard the others overhead, then warp ahead again.

The last of these times, he took a break and found a fruit tree. After picking some fruit that had managed to weather the recent storms, he sat down underneath it, removed his mask, and ate. Even _he_ had to smile a bit at the light filtering down through the leaves above, but his pleasure quickly soured into annoyance again as he heard the others approaching. Putting his mask back on and flapping up into the tree, he watched as the other three landed not far from where he was.

Kirby sent his Warp Star back, and Sakura gathered some berries from a nearby bush. There weren't that many, but she and the two little boys seemed content with what they had. After their supper, she sat down between them and told them one of their favorite stories from a book from memory. After it got dark, she helped them build a sort of nest out of leaves, and wished them a good night.

_Now she will go to sleep, and leave them all completely unguarded,_ he thought rather bitterly to himself. He wasn't even completely sure why he was so mad at her, but he was.

To her credit, she didn't go to sleep. She instead held her sword up so it began to glow, and pulled a book out of his satchel, which he had foolishly left with them.

"Kirby and the Monstrous Lightning," he heard her read quietly. Opening the book, she began to peruse it, seeming extremely confused. He nearly fell asleep, but after awhile, understanding seemed to slowly come into her eyes. She flipped faster and faster through the pages, reading them as fast as she could, it seemed.

_She understands the Ancients, somehow,_ he thought in amazement, leaning forward subconsciously. _Even I find them impossible to comprehend, but she has decoded their tome!_

But moments later, she seemed to freeze, fear now filling her eyes. Suddenly, she began to flip the pages ahead as fast as she could, then returned to that one and stared at it. In the blink of an eye, she slammed the book shut and backed away from it quickly, shaking her head in what could only be described as disbelieving terror.

_What has she seen? What has she discovered that is so troubling?_ he wondered, worried. When she began to cry almost silently, he flew over to her as fast as his wings could carry him.

_Earlier that night:_

_This is impossible,_ Sakura thought to herself with a mental sigh. _Meta Knight was right, this code makes no sense._ She kept reading, anyway, just to have something to do. It was a long, big book, but it wasn't that heavy, so she assumed there was some sort of charm on it.

But, after awhile, it began to make some sense to her. The sentences followed a logical sort of order, like "c\:kirbyfly c\:waddledooattackbeam c\:kirbyinhale c\:beamkirby." It began to be less and less confusing, as she went on.

She eventually came to a point that seemed like the final battle. "c\:kirbyattack c\:monstrouslightningdefend c\:metaknightslash c\:monstrouslightninggroan c\:bandanadeespearthrust c\:monstrouslightningfade c\:battlecontinue."

_They're winning,_ she thought to herself optimistically, then sadly, _Why do they even need me? Why did anyone decide I need to exist?_ But what she read soon after was anything but optimistic. Faster and faster her eyes sped along the words on the pages: "c\:metaknightattack c\:monstrouslightningboltthrow c\:metaknightdefendothers c\:metaknightdie."

_What?!_ she thought, panicked. She flipped furiously through the pages, searching for even one more mention of her masked friend, but there was none. _I must have read it wrong. I must have!_ she cried out in her head. She turned back to the awful page and stared at the words again in horror. "c\:metaknightdie." _But that can't be right! He's a hero! Dreamland will still need him after this quest!_

She slammed the book shut as hard as she could and ran away from it. _It's not true. It's a trick. It can't be true,_ she thought, as tears began to stream from her chestnut eyes.

Flying in out of nowhere, the One Who Wielded Galaxia himself appeared. "Sakura!" he whisper-shouted. "What is it?" His eyes were a frightened grayish-blue. "What has it revealed to you?!"

Shaking her head, she managed to choke out, "No. Please don't ask me!"

"Please! Tell me, what is the matter?" he pleaded.

"No! Please, Meta Knight. Please, just leave me alone. I don't want to think about it." She shook her head harder.

"Just tell me!" he shouted, nearly as upset as she was, although he did not cry. Whatever had caused his brave ally to fall apart like this must be horrific.

"I said to leave me alone!" she shouted at him, her eyes flashing in anger for a moment.

They both heard a whimper and spun around. "What going on, poyo?" a now-awake Kirby asked, his body trembling in barely constrained sobs. "Why Sakura Meta Knight fighting, poyo?"

Sakura instantly softened. "We're not fighting," she reassured Kirby, hurrying over and pulling the little puffball into her arms. "I've just read something scary, that's all. I need to remember to not read scary stories right before bed," she gave a tiny 'smile' as she began to rock the small Star Warrior. "Peace comes with the dawn, the light drives out all fear. Just close your eyes my child, and keep my heartbeat near," she sang softly. Kirby sniffled awhile longer, then fell asleep in her arms.

Meta Knight had stood by through this. It was amazing how Sakura could drop everything that concerned her when one of the small ones needed her, no matter how important was the matter she herself was dealing with. He turned to her, but she shook her head once.

"Please. I respect that you have things that you do not wish to talk about. If you consider me a true ally, please. Do not ask me about what I read tonight, ever again," she begged, tears beginning to cloud her chestnut eyes again.

He nodded once. "I give you my word as a Star Warrior." He hesitated for a moment, then sat down beside her. Leaning against him, she fell asleep there, after crying silently for several more minutes.

He sighed heavily. Whatever it was she had read, it had been terrible. Maybe he didn't want to know the secrets that old volume held, after all.

He stayed awake until much later, when she also awoke because there was a rustle in the woods. Several rustles, actually. "Monsters," she whispered nearly silently, looking up at him.

"Yes," he murmured under his breath. She gently set Kirby aside, and they both drew their swords. Treading as lightly as possible, they waited until they were at the edge of the clearing Sakura had made camp in, and then they both simultaneously lifted their swords, shedding a small amount of light on the situation.

"Shoot! They've found us!" they heard a voice whisper.

"Great going, dummy. Now they really know where we are," another voice went ahead and moaned aloud in irritation.

"Idiot!" another hissed. "Don't yell! That won't help!"

Sakura looked at Meta Knight in something resembling amusement. "These monsters don't exactly know the meaning of stealth, do they?" she murmured.

Shaking his head, he led her into the trees, where they discovered a much larger group of monsters than they had expected, including several mid-bosses and Magolor. "Maybe we don't know stealth, but we do know how to trick a couple of heroes into walking right into an ambush," he chuckled.

"_You_. I had a feeling you had not really turned away from the darkness," Meta Knight hissed at the small blue, yellow-eyed creature before him.

"You know this creep?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Yes. Kirby, the king, Bandana Dee, and myself took him on not that long ago," he explained, not taking his narrowed red eyes off the little guy. He hardly looked threatening, Sakura thought.

"And, of course, you completely skip the part where I trick you four numbskulls into doing my dirty work for me. If I hadn't have done that whole monologue thing, you never would have figured out I was a badguy, would've you, Meta-NOT?" Magolor almost giggled darkly. "At least tell the little lady the truth."

"What does he mean, his dirty work?" she asked in confusion, glancing over at her friend.

"We rebuilt his ship and then fought a dragon for him. In the end, the dragon turned out to be our true ally, not this Magolor you see before you," Meta Knight explained in disgust. "He is a _coward_."

"Hey, hey. Shut up. I've kind of got a big-badguy image to uphold here," Magolor humphed.

"Don't worry," Sakura scoffed. "You've kind of got the image-ruining thing taken care of. You're so adorable, no one will ever take you seriously in your life." She didn't notice that as Magalor winced, Meta Knight did as well. "So. Are you going to fight us, or what?"

"Not on your life, girly," Magolor laughed, then pulled some sort of electric field out of the air and around himself. "You should really join the winning side, lady. We get all the cool toys," he winked as the lightning warped him out of mid-air. They heard his voice call out as he left, "Have fun with your new playmates!"

Rolling her eyes, Sakura muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "My, what a lovely person. We really should get to know him better."

Meta Knight chuckled once, hopping into fighting position right behind her, prepared to defend from the back. "Maybe, after this quest is over, we should have him come over to the castle for dinner sometime."

Sakura snickered. "Such an important guest... Help me to remember to tell the kitchen to use the fine china."

He smirked to himself. "I will be sure to make a note of that."

Staring straight at one of the monsters, Sakura called out in fake exasperation, "Come on, we don't have all night."

The monsters looked at each other. "Aren't they supposed to be scared, or something?" one asked.

"They probably are. Why else wouldn't they come over to us?" another pointed out.

"They've got that weird honor vibe going," another put in his two cents' worth. "They can't attack first, betcha."

"Well, then, let's just get on with it. I have a comic book at home I really want to finish," the first one sighed.

Meta Knight groaned as Sakura laughed. "Some ambush," she giggled. "Very well put together. You all are complete geniuses."

"Hey, I resemble that remark!" one grumped, leaping at them.

"Finally!" the two said in amusedly-annoyed unison. Kirby and Bandana Dee suddenly floated in, ready to fight as well. Meta Knight and Sakura instantly switched to guarding the air, simultaneously taking flight.

"Come at me, bro poyo!" Kirby grinned. Sakura had to giggle, he was just so dang _cute_.

Together, the four of them managed to work their way through the 'taskforce' within half an hour.

"Well, that was entertaining," she joked when the last monster was dealt with.

"Maybe, but it proves that I was right. Even though we did have lovely weather today-"

Interrupting, Sakura pointed out, "It's probably yesterday by now."

"All right then, yesterday. My point being, the good weather was a trick." A bolt of lightning in the sky and a crash of thunder punctuated the end of Meta Knight's little speech.

"Maybe so, but if those monsters were the only consequence of that good weather, then I still vote yes," she said sadly, as the stars began to be blocked by clouds again. She flew straight up and held one hand out, as if trying to keep the stars from leaving her. Of course, they did anyway soon after. She landed again and took Kirby and Bandana Dee by the hand. "Come on, we need to put you two back to bed. Late-night battles aren't good for you."

"Thank you's good, poyo." Kirby stuck his tongue out, slightly offended.

"All right, thank you. You two are super brave," she 'smiled.' "Now go to sleep, my little Star Warrior and Hero Dee." They soon did, proud looks on their young, innocent faces.

"I am afraid that the monsters were just the first of the consequences of today's reprieve," Meta Knight murmured.

"Probably so. I should've known to believe you. I'm sorry," she admitted.

"My apologies, as well. Even if I was nervous, I should not have been so terse with all of you," he told her.

She looked at him, deep sadness in her eyes even though her voice was happy. "Good night, Sir Knight."

He frowned to himself, but replied lightly, "Sleep well, Sakura."

He fell asleep soon later, but she couldn't now. Doing a sort of warrior's ballet through imaginary enemies, to keep her mind off the night's earlier events, she suddenly froze. _That's why I am here. That's why I exist,_ she realized, turning and looking at her once teacher, now friend, in determination.

_I exist to save the Masked Knight's life._


	21. World 5, Level 3

Sakura sighed as the others finally began to awake. She hadn't fallen asleep again once after last night's revelation, she had been too... she didn't know how to describe it. Sad, worried, scared, intimidated, all of those were a part of what she had felt.

Yesterday, they had flown about halfway between Nutty Noon and White Wafers, today they were going to cover the rest of the journey, if all went well. Meta Knight was in a much better mood today, and Kirby and Bandana Dee were as gleeful as always. But she was a lot more serious than usual, and the others noticed.

Meta Knight was kind enough to give her some space, but Kirby and Bandana were doing everything they could to make her cheer up. But no matter what they did, all they got out of her was a tiny 'smile.'

At lunch, Kirby sat in her lap and smiled sweetly at her, even offering her one of his cookies from the bottomless bag. "No thanks, Kirby. In fact, take mine," she offered.

Kirby frowned, then gave her a hug. "Kirby love you, poyo."

She looked at the little one in confusion. "What, Kirby?"

Kirby seemed a bit hurt. "Never mind, poyo."

Sakura frowned, unsure of what she had done wrong. "What?" she asked again. When Kirby just shook his head, she sighed and fell back into the depressed mood she had been in all day.

_It is as I suspected,_ Meta Knight observed, his eyes a deep orange of thought as he sat across from her on a stump. _She has no concept of love. She has an idea of what 'to like' is, but to her, to serve is to love._

He made an effort to speak to her as much as possible that afternoon, hoping discussion would keep her mind off of whatever was troubling her, but she just replied with as short of answers as possible. Suddenly, she asked him, "Would you ever be able to lay down your life if it saved someone else's?"

"Of course," he replied, surprised. "I am a Star Warrior. That is one of the most honorable ways for my kind to pass on. I would, of course, much prefer to save the other's life without losing my own, if that was an option."

She nodded once, her eyes looking far off into space.

"Is that what you are troubled about?" he prodded gently. "That you would have to die for us in the final battle?"

"Not exactly, but that's pretty close," she replied softly, still not looking at him. Flapping off, she murmured, "Thank you."

He frowned to himself. _What would cause her to be worried about losing her life in battle? We have already faced many opponents, and not one of them has caused us much trouble._

Up ahead, Sakura thought, _You probably will just have to block that attack yourself. It'll all work out all right, we're all going to go home safe and sound. Stop worrying about it._ She forced herself to think of happy things, like flying and cooking. After awhile, she seemed a bit better off, but there was still something other than happiness in her eyes.

"Well, Magolor. Your original plan failed. Do you have any other ideas?" the Monstrous Lightning asked, bored as usual.

"I can't believe they made it out of that alive, I had gathered hundreds of monsters," Magolor sighed in irritation.

"How capable were these monsters, though?" the spark pointed out snidely.

"Well, obviously not as capable as the heroes," Magolor snorted, then cowered as the spark sent a bolt toward him, which stopped just in front of his face.

"Well, now you get to fight them yourself," the lightning growled, surrounding Magolor in the same static field he had used the night before. "I am sending you to where the heroes will be arriving later tonight. If you value your pathetic life, you will not fail this time."

"Hey, I thought I was the brains of this operation! Since when do you come up with the ideas?!" Magolor roared, struggling against the warp field.

"Since forever, idiot," the spark sighed as soon as the little creature was gone. Settling more comfortably into his spot here in the temple in Bubbly Clouds, he laughed evilly. He had already turned all of the soft, fluffy white clouds to his trademark dark gray, and was getting ready to send out such a strong storm that no one would be able to resist his rule. All would bow to his name, and these 'heroes' would soon be wiped from their minds with his powers, never to be given another remembrance. All he had left to do was finish carefully crafting this perfect storm of chaos. There would be no way the heroes could get to him in time, they still had no idea where he was, or that he had only just arrived here. This was going to be almost too easy, in fact. But who cared? As soon as Popstar was his, he'd move out into the rest of the universe. Nightmare would be remembered as a angel when compared to him, he would make sure of it.

Days had passed again. Sakura had slowly but surely cheered up, all the way through White Wafers. She seemed to really enjoy the snow, something the others had seen many times before, but she couldn't remember the one or two times it had fallen in Cappy Town. It had happened since Kirby had arrived, so within her memory span, but apparently she had been on indoor duty the whole time.

"This stuff is so pretty, and soft. And cold!" she squealed, picking it up and randomly throwing it into the air for the umpteenth time. Some landed in Kirby's face, which prompted an impromptu snowball fight. Meta Knight sighed and stayed out of it, but his eyes were green in amusement as he watched the other three.

"Come on, Sir Knight! Join us!" Sakura shouted, throwing one at him. It hit his cloak.

Glaring first at it and then at her, he humphed, "No."

"All right, be a willing target then," she chuckled, throwing another one at him.

Rolling his eyes, he bent over and appeared to be inspecting something.

Waddling over, she inquired, "What are you-"

He suddenly stood up, throwing a handful of snow up into her face. "What am I doing? Oh, just studying this frozen precipitation," he said innocently.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "This is war."

He chuckled. "You do not realize what you are getting yourself into, my friend."

"Is that so?" she asked, faking seriousness.

"Yes," he answered, beginning to form a snowball in his hand. "Prepare yourselves, all three of you."

What followed was probably the most epic snow battle Dreamland had ever seen. Even though it was three against one, Meta Knight was still most definitely the winner. "I warned you. I told you that you were biting off more than you could ever possibly hope to chew," he sighed, shaking his head in faux-mournfulness.

"You're _always_ right, I should've known this would happen," she admitted, laughing as she dusted the snow off Bandana Dee's bandana. "Let's find someplace to warm up." The storm clouds hadn't seemed to reach here yet, as the skies had been bright and clear every day they had been here. They were leaving tomorrow to continue their search somewhere else, if all went well.

They found a cave, and Sakura and Meta Knight carefully built a fire with some dry wood they found in a crevice in the mountain that didn't have snow in it. Soon they were all dry again. "I will take first watch tonight," Meta Knight announced, walking out. Sakura and the little two soon fell asleep, snuggled close to each other while he stood outside.

Hours later, he shook her awake. Whispering, he told her, "Sakura, I think you would enjoy seeing this."

"Mm?" she muttered, only partially awake, allowing him to take her hand and lead her out of the cave. As soon as they were outside, though, she woke right up. It wasn't the cold, like you would expect, but what she saw in the sky that did it.

"What _is_ that?" she asked, wonder in her voice, her eyes huge.

He smiled to himself. "The Northern Lights, or _Aurora Borealis._ It can only be seen in places close to the top of the world, like White Wafers."

Staring up at it, she breathed, "It's so pretty. All the colors... it reminds me of your eyes."

Looking at her in confusion, he asked, "What do you mean?"

Still staring at the sky, she explained, "Your eyes can be so many different colors, like all the ones in the sky. And they glow in almost exactly the same way."

"I see," he murmured.

She looked over at him suddenly. "What did Kirby mean, the other day? When he said he loved me? I've heard that word before, but I've never understood it. It's even in some of the books I've read. What does it mean?"

He turned and stared off into space. "Well, there is the love one can feel for things or possessions, where you enjoy something a lot. But between people, there are two kinds of love." He paused as he wondered how to explain it so she would understand. "There is the one kind, that you can feel for many people, where you enjoy serving someone."

"Okay, then I love all three of you," she said, some understanding coming into her eyes. He nodded once. "But what is the other kind?"

"It is the kind you can only feel for one person, and it is when you want to serve that person your whole life," he explained quietly, thoughtfully, looking far off into the stars.

"So, Kirby meant the first kind, right?" she asked, seeming worried.

Laughing, his mind now here again, he replied, "I assume so. Otherwise, it would be quite... awkward."

"I'll say," she shook her head and giggled. "Seeing as how he's so much younger than me, especially. So, when Kirby said 'I love you,' he basically meant 'I am glad to have served you?'"

"Exactly," Meta Knight agreed, a warm smile on his face, glad she had understood.

Shivering, she murmured, "It's so cold." She tried to pull her cape around herself, but it didn't work. "Whoever made this thing wasn't thinking about quests in polar climates, obviously." Without hesitation, Meta Knight threw a piece of his cloak around her shoulders. "Thanks," she sighed gratefully, stepping a bit closer to him to share his warmth.

"Of course," Meta Knight replied warmly.

"Aw, well, isn't that sweet," they heard a pip-squeaky voice say, and Magolor walked out from behind a snowdrift, looking half-frozen. "Did you have to find anymore secluded of a place to camp? I've been looking for you dumb-dumbs for days."

"So, where's your ambush this time, cute widdle badguy?" Sakura taunted, not moving from Meta Knight's side. She didn't see why she should go further into the cold when there wasn't any real threat.

Magolor rolled his eyes. "Look, I didn't choose to be born adorable."

_Trust me, traitor, I feel your pain,_ Meta Knight thought, a bit bitterly, to himself.

Magolor shuddered, then continued, "And I don't have a taskforce this time. I'm alone, the Monstrous Lightning sent me here to fight you myself. Now, obviously, I am unarmed. So, let's make a deal. I'll tell you where the guy you're looking for is, if you'll give me back my ship in the end so I can go home."

"You did not seem so eager to be rid of your master last time," Meta Knight said warily. "And you have already made yourself known as a liar. Why would we trust you? Your offer, in reality, is probably just an attempt to trap us."

"We're not stupid," Sakura agreed.

"That's debatable," Magolor snickered. "You guys haven't exactly been able to find him on your own, now have you? Of course, he only recently actually got here, and now he's getting ready to send the worst storm ever heard of out all over the planet."

Tensing a bit, Sakura questioned nervously, "How bad of a storm?"

"Bad enough that being inside won't help you, I'll tell you that. He doesn't care how many lives are lost, just so long as everyone is convinced of his limitless power. Whoever is left will become his servants. Then, he will feed off the energy in the air, and continue his journey to the next planet and the next. This guy means business. He says he won't rest until the whole universe is under his control, until Nightmare is remembered fondly in comparison to him. And he's also going to completely remove the Star Warriors from everyone's memory. It won't even be just Kirby and you anymore, Metal Knight. There won't be any of your kind left," Magalor sneered. "So, if you want any chance of survival, I suggest you agree to help me."

Meta Knight shuddered and drew his sword, his eyes turning a deep, dark red. Sakura followed suit, then looked to him for direction, but he shook his head. "Give Magolor your sword," he ordered quietly.

"Why?" she asked in confusion.

"I am going to duel him, of course," he explained. "Now, do as I commanded."

She did. "Try not to get any scratches on it, got it?" she humphed to both of them. They ignored her.

"I don't know how to use one of these things! All I know are laser guns!" Magolor pleaded, staring at his foe in disbelief. Within seconds, the Cherry Star Sword was lying in the snow, and Sakura quickly picked it back up and sheathed it.

Meta Knight had forced Magolor up against the wall, and was now pointing Galaxia's tip at him. "Here is another 'deal.' You tell us where the Monstrous Lightning hides, I let you keep your sorry life. You have betrayed me once, and no one ever gets an opportunity to betray me a second time."

Sakura shuddered. Meta Knight was acting much darker than his typical self, and she didn't like it. It was very unnerving, disturbing even.

"Okay, okay. He's somewhere filled with clouds. I don't know this planet that well," Magolor whined.

Meta Knight swiped, barely missing. "The whole planet is covered with clouds now, I suggest you be more specific."

"I don't know, okay? It was all white and fluffy before he got there, and there's a temple, and please get that thing out of my face!" he squealed.

"Bubbly Clouds. I should have known," Meta Knight whispered as Sakura continued to watch anxiously. Sheathing his sword, he humphed to Magolor, "I suggest you become more familiar with this planet, as you are _never_ getting your ship back. And, if what you say turns out to be another lie, I _will_ find you. You will _not_ be so lucky next time."

Magolor nodded, speechless in fear.

"Now go! Get out of my sight!" Meta Knight hissed.

Nodding again, Magolor ran off. They assumed they would never see him again, but they were wrong...

Sakura took a deep breath of relief. "I hope I never get on your bad side."

Meta Knight smiled darkly to himself, his eyes still red but beginning to return to yellow. "Trust me, it is not a pleasant place to be." Suddenly filled with shame, he took a deep breath, forcing the darkness inside him back under control. "I am very sorry. I do not get like that often."

Obviously frightened, she whispered, "It was like you were a completely different person. Your voice was different, even."

"I am sorry," he murmured again. Why had he ever accepted this 'gift?' It had only ever brought him regret and difficulty.

"I'm not mad, Meta Knight," she said. It was easy to see that, but it was also easy to see that she was very scared. "I'm going to take next watch."

He nodded once. At least he had not lost her trust, she was willing to let him be near Kirby and Bandana Dee still. "I should not have let my rage get away from me. I am ashamed you saw me like that," he whispered, his eyes on the snowy ground.

"It's okay," she said. "I don't know much about your past, but I do know that it wasn't good, so I don't blame you at all."

"It is not that my past was not good, it is just that there are many bad things that have happened to me," he explained, then hesitantly left her to stand alone under a quickly-clouding sky.

"It all comes down to the next few days," she realized softly. "My quest is nearing its end, one way or another." Her eyes narrowed in determination. "You had better be ready, Monstrous Lightning. The Kirby Dee is coming. Maybe I can't destroy you, but trust me, you will be _very_ much weakened."


	22. World 5, Level 4

Sighing, Meta Knight pulled his cloak tighter around himself as he stood at the entrance to the cave and stared at the sky, which was almost black. He had offered to take watch while Sakura woke up Kirby and Bandana Dee. She had been surprised that he wanted to continue watch now that it was day, but he knew they could take no chances. For now, the Monstrous Lightning had truly arrived, and they must be constantly vigilant.

Inside, Sakura explained to the little ones what was going to happen. "We're going to fight the boss sometime in the next day or two. You guys are my little heroes, you're going to be brave. Right?"

Kirby nodded, determined. "Yep-poyo!"

Bandana Dee touched foreheads with her. "You can count on us, Sis- um, I mean, Sakura."

She smiled at him in her mind. "You can call me Sis. I'd love that," she said aloud, giving both of the two little ones a hug.

"Well, you have pretty much been like an awesome big sister to us," Bandana Dee explained, giving her a 'smile' in real life.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Bandana," she said. "I, um, love you both. You guys are just like my little brothers."

Kirby grinned and joined the other two, making it a group hug. "Love you too! Love Sakura poyo!" he yelled, ecstatic that she understood now.

Meta Knight smiled to himself at the cave door. She really was just like an older sister to the two young ones. She reminded him a lot of someone else that he had known well, a very long time before...

Sakura kept Kirby and Bandana Dee in her arms for another long moment, then pulled away. "Come on, we don't want to keep Meta Knight waiting any longer than we have to. We have a monster who needs us to kick him into the next galaxy!"

Kirby laughed gleefully. "Kirby kick monster! Kirby be hero!"

Still touching foreheads with her, Bandana said, "I'm going to be a hero too. I'm a Hero Dee!"

"Yes, you are," she agreed, patting his head. "Now, let's go."

They had no trouble until afternoon, when lightning started to jump from cloud to cloud, making flying safely impossible. Even though Sakura and Kirby could use Spark to stay safe, Bandana Dee and Meta Knight couldn't. (Well, Meta Knight could've if he was desperate, but Sakura didn't know that.)

"What do we do now?" Sakura asked as they landed inside a hollowed-out hill for shelter. "We can't fly to Bubbly Clouds, what can we do?"

Meta Knight thought for a moment. "I have an idea. My cloak can be used as a sort of teleportation device, and I think yours can be too. Each of us can take a child and warp to Bubbly Clouds."

"Okay. I'll take Bandana," she agreed, taking her cape off and holding it over Bandana and her heads.

Meta Knight drew Kirby close and tucked him inside the cloak. "Then, I will take Kirby."

"How do we make sure we warp to the same place?" she asked. "I don't know what Bubbly Clouds is like, I've never been there."

"Bandana Dee, you will have to control the warp. She cannot travel to someplace she does not know, I should have remembered that," Meta Knight ordered the little Waddle Dee.

Bandana nodded, proud to be honored so. He touched foreheads with Sakura, who laughed and turned to Meta Knight. "He says he wants you to know that he won't let any dumb monsters hurt the Kirby Dee."

Meta Knight's eyes glowed an amused green. "I am sure you will protect her well, my small friend. Now, let us go." He and Kirby disappeared into the air.

"Well, we should join them," Sakura told Bandana, who nodded and closed his eyes in concentration. Nothing happened. "Why aren't we warping?" she asked.

"I don't know," Bandana replied. He was so close that their foreheads touched without effort. "Maybe yours can't warp like Meta Knight's can."

"Well, that's convenient," Sakura sighed.

"Why don't you call for the Warp Star?" Bandana suggested.

"It's not mine, it won't come. And how would that help?" she asked, a bit irritated at her cape.

"Kirby's told me before that even though it's his, a Warp Star will come aid any Star Warrior in need," Bandana explained.

"But I'm not a Star Warrior. I'm a Kirby Dee. And if we used a Warp Star, you'd still get fried," she pointed out.

Rolling his eyes, Bandana disagreed, "I think a Kirby Dee is close enough. And no I won't, because you're going to get Spark and surround the star in a protective field."

"Since when do you have tactical knowledge?" she asked warily.

"Since someone took the time to listen to me," he sighed mentally. "C'mon, Sakura. Trust me, this'll work, Sis."

She hesitated, then nodded. "Okay." She leaned outside and inhaled some lightning, which turned her into Spark Sakura. "Let's go. C'mon, Warp Star!" she shouted, just like Kirby had a few days before.

At first, there was nothing. But then, they heard the sparkly sound the Warp Star made, getting louder and louder. "Told you so!" Bandana Dee thought excitedly.

"I guess it_ will_ help me," she thought, amazed. She jumped on, Bandana Dee followed. Surrounding them in a protective field, she started to fly as fast as she could. "Is this the way to Bubbly Clouds?" she thought at him.

"Um, yeah. I think so, anyway," he thought, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

"This is just brilliant," she muttered, when suddenly, she felt something inside of her. It felt almost like a whisper, deep in her heart. "What is that?" she murmured. It went away after just a moment, though.

"What's what?" Bandana questioned.

"Nothing," she reassured him. "It was nothing." But she knew it wasn't just nothing. _Was what I just felt... Star Power?_ she thought in the back of her head, where Bandana Dee couldn't hear. _But I'm not a Star Warrior..._ She frowned, confused, as they zoomed through the skies.

Meta Knight paced back and forth nervously. "Where are we? Where are the others?"

"I dunno, poyo," Kirby told him nervously. The little one was currently unarmed, so he would be of little help if they were attacked. They seemed to be inside of a giant cloudbank, but it wasn't a normal part of Bubbly Clouds, he was sure of that. Mid-warp, they had been dragged back into reality right here.

"Welcome," they heard a deep voice chuckle. "As soon as your friends arrive, we will begin." A bolt of lightning jumped from the floor to the ceiling, then back, as if impatient.

"Where are we? Who are you?" Meta Knight interrogated the voice.

"Calm yourself, my little hero. It will be explained in time." There was an evil laugh, then the voice continued, "So, you are the 'Star Warriors' that Nightmare so feared. You're so tiny, how did you ever defeat him?"

"Small but mighty, poyo! Brave hearts, poyo!" Kirby shouted, giving a firm nod.

Meta Knight nodded at his small friend. "Exactly, Kirby. That is exactly how we won. Of course," he began, turning back to the clouds, "It helps when the one you are facing is naught but a coward, just as Nightmare was, and you are."

The voice paused, seemingly offended. "You will pay for that, hero." After another pause, the voice growled, "I grow impatient. I will wait no longer."

Meta Knight drew his sword, prepared to battle, but Sakura and Bandana Dee suddenly appeared. Confused, Sakura dismounted the Warp Star and automatically kicked out her Copy Ability, handing the Copy Essence to Kirby, who eagerly inhaled it. "Hai-yah!" he shouted, now ready to fight as well.

"Why did you not just warp here?" Meta Knight asked her as she leapt into fighting position behind him, seemingly without thinking about it.

"My cape can't warp, apparently," she explained, a bit annoyed.

"I see. But how did you get the Warp Star?" he asked, fascinated. "You are not a Star Warrior."

"I don't know, but I'm glad I found out I _can_ do that. But, we just suddenly appeared here. Is this Bubbly Clouds?" Sakura wondered aloud.

Shaking his head, he warned her, "No, it is a trap of sorts. Our foe awaits."

"All right then," she said, narrowing her eyes in determination. "Let's do this."

"Are your niceties ended? Are you prepared?" the lightning asked, bored.

"Yes," three answered in unison, one nodded and jabbed his spear at the air.

"Well, then. Let us get this over with." A spark around three times their size came out of the clouds.

_That can't be right, _Sakura thought. _He's supposed to be giant._ Meta Knight's deep green eyes showed he was also confused.

The Monstrous Lightning noticed their confusion. "I may not be as large as you expected, but I can still easily overpower you!" The spark threw several bolts at them, which Sakura reflected back to him with her sword. "How can you do that? Should you not have been electrocuted?"

"Sorry, bozo, but magic glass doesn't conduct electricity," she snickered.

Meta Knight ducked a similar attack. "Unfortunately, magic gold does," he told her, sounding almost jealous.

"Hey, remember, your cloak warps. Mine doesn't," she laughed.

"Am I really that easy of an enemy? That you can be jovial as you fight me?" the lightning asked, angry.

"I'm afraid so," Sakura giggled, deflecting another attack back at him. Each time she did this, he seemed to shrink some.

Kirby jumped up and sent an attack at the monster, which hit him and caused him to shrink again. Bandana threw his spear, which should've done nothing, but it seemed like the final blow, as the Monstrous Lightning groaned and disappeared. Their cloudy cell disintegrating and leaving them standing in Bubbly Clouds, Kirby and Bandana Dee began to victory dance. "No. It is not time for celebration yet," Meta Knight warned.

"I agree. That was far too simple. It wasn't really a fight, it was a test," Sakura said to all three of them. "He's trying to find our weak points. He now knows that my sword resists electricity, but that Meta Knight's doesn't. He also knows that Bandana has no form of attack other than to use his spear."

Meta Knight nodded once, drawing his cloak back around himself. "So, how shall we fight him? He is obviously in the temple, over there." He brought one hand out of his cloak and pointed.

"Yep-poyo!" Kirby nodded, determined. "But still dance. Fun, poyo." He and Bandana Dee resumed dancing.

"Oh, why not," she laughed, leaping into the air and spreading her wings.

Meta Knight even joined her, his eyes green in amusement.

"What's gotten into you?" she asked, amazed, as he did a sort of flying kick that looked like martial arts, but was still extremely graceful.

"As you said, my friend. Why not?" he chuckled, flying around her once, then landing again. Resuming his typical stoic demeanor, he ordered, "But that is enough. We need to find shelter, a place to plan our strategy and rest before the final battle."

"How about one of these empty cloud-houses?" Sakura questioned.

He inspected one, making sure it was devoid of enemies. "It is as good a place as any."

They spent the afternoon in quiet chatter, or Kirby and Sakura did anyway. Meta Knight and Bandana Dee were as quiet as always, until Bandana Dee came over and touched foreheads with her. "Are you scared about really fighting the monster tomorrow?"

She grew quiet. She hadn't been wanting to think about it, but she knew she should. "I'm a little bit scared, but it's going to be fine. We're going to go home and receive a heroes' welcome," she reassured him with a 'smile,' trying to reassure herself.

That night, she couldn't sleep. There was that whisper in her heart again, and it drove her crazy. _Why am I feeling the Star Power? Is it even the Star Power? What's going on?_ she worried mentally._ Is it because I'm about to face a major foe? Why is this happening, when I'm not a Star Warrior?_ She felt like she wasn't supposed to be where she was right now whenever she felt it, like someone somewhere else needed her. "What's going on?" she whispered aloud, frightened.

Meta Knight's eyes suddenly began glowing. "What is it?"

"Nothing," she reassured him. "It's nothing." She shivered a bit and leaned back against the wall. "Go back to sleep, Sir Knight."

"You will also need your rest for tomorrow," he disagreed, standing up.

"I can't sleep. I'm too nervous," she understated. All she could see in her mind at the moment was the words, "c\:metaknightdie," and it made her shiver again. She was dreading tomorrow with everything in her, and Meta Knight could sense it.

"I cannot sleep, either," he told her. "I have just been meditating. Maybe we should duel, maybe it will help one of us become tired."

"Good idea," she agreed, standing up and drawing her sword. They dueled right outside of the cloudy house, neither of them knowing this would be their last duel together for years.


	23. Boss Battle, Closing Cutscenes

_Meta Knight sighed and put down his pen. Aside from the first couple of chapters, which he found in Sakura's pile of books and things in his library, he had written this whole account himself. He felt like Sakura at least deserved to be remembered. His heart heavy, he knew he should finish it, but this was the piece he had tried to remember as little as possible..._

_That night, after they had dueled, Sakura had finally told him what was troubling her. He had laughed a bit, although nervous, and had promised to not let himself get killed tomorrow. She didn't completely believe him, and therefore had sworn to protect him, but she didn't seem quite as upset as she had before._

_Then, she had explained to him a sort of 'whispering' she felt within her. He reassured her, telling her it was probably just nerves and nothing to worry about. His cloak draped around the both of them, he told her, "If I had to pick any of the people I now know to fight alongside me, I would pick you. You have grown much in the year we have spent together."_

_She had 'smiled' gratefully, and fallen asleep there, leaning peacefully against him. It had felt good to know his young friend trusted him so thoroughly._

_The next day, the battle had been going very well... _

Sakura took a deep breath as they stood right outside of the temple. "Well, it's now or never, I guess." The place was filled with static, every time any of the heroes brushed against each other, they were met with a small zap. Kirby and Bandana Dee, although nervous, were trying to use this ability to scare the older two. Whereas they could succeed with Sakura, all they got out of Meta Knight was an annoyed glare.

The clouds shook with a peal of dark thunder. "We should not hesitate any longer. He will have finished preparing this storm at any moment," Meta Knight declared. After another moment, he too took a deep breath and led the party in.

"Well, you have arrived," the Monstrous Lightning chuckled from not far ahead. "And here I was, hoping you had chickened out."

"Dream on, poyo," Kirby rolled his eyes, but after another second, they suddenly grew wide, as they turned a corner and first viewed their foe's true form.

A huge spark floated before them, surrounded by clouds with small bolts of lightning jumping from one to another. "Well, do not keep me waiting, heroes. I have a planet to destroy."

"You're never going to get the chance!" Sakura suddenly shouted. Doing a jump-flip combo that rivaled Meta Knight's own ability, she inhaled some lightning. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I shock you?" she quipped, determined, as she became Spark Sakura.

"Hai-yah!" Kirby agreed, getting Spark too.

"Remember the plan?" Meta Knight asked his companions. They nodded. Turning to the monster, he shouted, "Then let us begin!"

Chuckling, the Monstrous Lightning sent out a wave of electricity. Kirby surrounded himself and Bandana Dee in a protective field of static, Sakura did the same with Meta Knight and herself. As soon as the attack was over, the two dropped their shields, and all four flew (or floated, or air-hopped) wildly around the room.

The Monstrous Lightning grunted in frustration. Trying to attack all four of them, his aim was not very accurate, and so all he did was waste energy. "You waste my time!" he shouted, sending out several bolts at once. Kirby and Sakura used the same protective field tactic again, keeping him from injuring any of them.

They went through this cycle several times. Each time, they would weaken the lightning even more, but he got very few attacks of his own to actually hit any of them.

Finally, he began to wise up. _If I can stop them from using that annoying force field, I can then attack them whilst they are defenseless._ he thought to himself, then chuckled darkly. He made it seem like he was about to send out a sheet of lightning, causing the two Spark-powered heroes to fly toward their other two companions. But, while they were distracted, he sent out a bolt to each of those two, causing them to lose their Copy Ability and freeze, electrified, for a few seconds. And in that preciously short amount of time, he sent out his worst attack yet.

He laughed maniacally as a giant bolt of lightning, nearly as big as himself, rammed straight for Sakura. As soon as he had gotten rid of her, he would go after the pink child. But he never got that far.

Sakura's eyes widened in fear, but she was still trapped in place. Out of nowhere, Meta Knight warped in to block the attack, but he had misjudged where he should return to reality at. And that tiny mistake was his undoing.

_This part, obviously, he had not himself observed. He only knew what had happened from a Waddle Doo hiding nearby who turned out to be the Waddle Doo from the castle._

He shouted out in distress as the lightning hit Galaxia when it was supposed to disappear into his cloak. His whole body was surrounded with electricity for a second, and then the Masked Knight began to drop to the cloudy floor like a rock, the glow of his eyes gone from his mask.

"NO!" Sakura screamed, finally capable of movement again. Diving towards her friend as fast as she could, she picked him up and landed behind a pillar, which offered them a moment of rest.

"Wake up, Meta Knight! Wake up!" she pleaded, shaking him gently as tears began to stream from her eyes. He didn't move. "I've failed," she whispered in horror and sorrow as Kirby and Bandana Dee swooped in. "I've failed my one true purpose."

Kirby looked from Meta Knight to her in confusion. "Meta Knight sleeping?" he questioned. When she shook her head, crying too hard to reply, he shook his head in disbelief. "Meta Knight wake up!" he shouted, dashing over and shaking his friend too.

Bandana Dee stood and watched in silence for a second, then he suddenly touched his forehead to Sakura's. "Meta Knight told me you have healing powers. Use them, Sakura!"

Her eyes widened in remembrance. "You're right, Bandana. It might be too late, but I have to try." Turning to Kirby, she handed him the Cherry Star Sword and ordered, "It resists electricity. You won't have Spark anymore, but if he throws an attack at you, use the sword to reflect it away. Don't send it back at him though, or he can use it again. Wear him out."

Kirby nodded in determination, and he and his Waddle Dee friend returned to battle.

Sakura closed her eyes in concentration, and began to make a sphere of soft light. As soon as it had grown about as big as she was, she let it absorb into her friend. Meta Knight moaned and stirred a bit, and the glow that was his eyes slowly came back. "S-Sakura..." he stammered.

"Stay there. You're still hurt," she ordered, concerned, as she pondered how to help the young ones finish off the monster.

"I feel fine. Tired, but fine," he argued, sitting up slowly. "You just saved my life, Sakura. I thank you."

Ignoring him, she suddenly gasped. "Evil, darkness. It's like a sickness."

Frowning to himself, he replied, "What? Well, I suppose so, but what do you-"

"'She will weaken him, but never destroy him,'" she murmured, still to herself. "I can weaken him with the light! It will cleanse the evil from him!" Beginning to form another sphere of light, she let it grow bigger and bigger. Soon, there was so much light that she herself was no longer visible. The giant sphere floated gracefully from their original location to close to the Monstrous Lightning. As Meta Knight watched in awe, the monster seemed to also pause and observe the sphere in curiosity.

Suddenly, a stream of light like a laser shot out from the sphere and streaked toward the monster. As it hit him, he screamed out in pain.

Even after it seemed like all of the energy should have been spent, Sakura kept throwing light at the monster while her friends watched in amazement. She could see them, but they couldn't see her. Suddenly, the sphere of light grew even bigger, and changed to a darker shade of pink. She let out an angry shout, and the light, with her still in it, faded away, in a way very similar to the way Meta Knight faded out when he warped.

Kirby floated quickly toward the monster, whose weak spot was now exposed. After just a few swings of the Cherry Star Sword, the monster completely disappeared, hopefully forever.

Meta Knight, meanwhile, had sped to the spot where Sakura had last been. But on the cloudy platform that had been immediately below her, all that was left was a cherry blossom-shaped ribbon, and a piled-up cape. "No," he whispered in sorrow as he picked them up. He flew slowly to where the two small ones were observing him while also victory dancing, not far away. As soon as they saw what Meta Knight was carrying, though, their victory dance ceased. Kirby frowned, confused at first, but Bandana Dee shook his head in sorrowful understanding.

"Well," Meta Knight began, but his voice cracked. After pausing a moment and allowing his voice to grow stronger, he began again, "Well, we should probably go home now." The three remaining heroes turned sadly to leave.

Kirby and Bandana Dee were silent, aside from a few tears shed by both of them, when they suddenly seemed to freeze in place. He still had no clue what happened to them, but when they came out of what seemed to be a trance, they were joyful.

Meta Knight felt angry at them for being happy when they had just lost a dear friend. Kirby tried to explain, "Sakura not gone, poyo!" but he didn't believe it. And without Sakura, there was no way to glean a better explanation from Bandana.

_Now, he paused again. They had made it back to the castle without any interference. DeDeDe and Escargoon were back to normal, and had seemed overjoyed that 'the creepy talking Waddle Dee' wasn't returning. He really, truly hated the king and his advisor sometimes, and that had definitely been one of those times._

_Kirby and Bandana Dee still seemed happy. Whenever he shouted at them about how Sakura was never coming back, Kirby tried to convince him that Sakura was okay. He still didn't believe the child._

_He had shouted about it a few times, but he hadn't shed a single tear over the incident. Until now, that was._

_Angry and ashamed, hot tears ran down his cheeks. He grabbed his mask and threw it to the ground, where it clanged loudly and then skidded along the floor several feet, casting sparks all around it as it went. It spun around once, wobbly, and then came to a stop._

_"Why?!" he yelled to no one in particular. "Why is it, whenever I allow someone to begin to grow close to me, that they are taken away?!" All of his friends back in his army days, nearly every one of them. Some whom he had known since childhood. And now, the closest friend he had ever had in Dreamland. She was gone too, forever. "It is like I am cursed!" he sobbed, still angry at himself for being emotional. It was not befitting of a warrior._

_Suddenly, he felt a whisper in his heart, which quickly grew into a sensation he had felt a few times before: Star Power. A voice spoke to him: "Meta Knight. When I took them away, it was not to pain you, but to give them rest. I still care for you, and you will still find happiness in your life. You are still needed here, that's why I sent Sakura to save your life._

_"And Sakura... She is still alive. She is still out there, somewhere among the stars. Perhaps in a different time, but she is alive. She is needed somewhere else, that is why she was taken from you. But fear not, my child. Your paths will cross again. This chapter has ended, but for all of you, another chapter is only beginning." The voice disappeared, the whispers left his heart._

_Meta Knight continued to stand where he was for a moment. Turning to the window and looking out at the stars, he smiled a bit. "She is still out there, somewhere among the stars," he repeated quietly to himself, feeling hopeful. He walked over to his shelf, reaching out and touching her cape, which was wrapped around her ribbon and sword. He had left it there as a remembrance, but now, he was saving it for when she returned. His smile grew bigger. She _would_ return, he _would_ see her again, someday. That is why the young ones had rejoiced, they had learned of this good fortune before him._

_He picked his mask up off the ground and set it on his bed. Sitting back down at his desk, he finished writing this chapter of Sakura's story. Nibbling on the nub of his pen, he thought for a second, then scribbled down,_

The End?

I open my eyes. I feel like I've been sleeping for days, but at the same time, I feel so tired. It's as if I have given all my energy and then some.

I can't remember who I am, or where I am, or what I'm supposed to be doing. All I can remember is a lot of pink light, and that I was fighting a monster with three friends. I can't even remember what the three friends were like.

There is another thing I remember. A voice, speaking to me. "My child," it said. "I am the Star Power. Your time in this place is finished, for now. You have fulfilled your first purpose, saving Meta Knight's life. But now, a young Star Warrior somewhere and sometime else needs your care." And then, I felt like I was soaring through space and time. I fell asleep.

Now I look around myself, expecting to see the aforementioned Star Warrior somewhere, but I am alone. It's a foresty place, and of course I don't recognize it at all. I take a deep breath, then jump when I feel a mouth open. That can't be right, I don't remember having a mouth. I manage to crawl over to a nearby stream, which I look into. I am colored the way I remember; I still have yellow-orange feet, a tan face, peach cheeks, chestnut eyes, and a red-orange body, but I now have the face of a Star Warrior.

"Whatcha doin', ooyo?"

"Ack!" I shout, and fall forward into the stream. It's shallow, so I quickly pick myself up and turn around. A young Star Warrior is watching me in amusement, lying on a Warp Star on his stomach, holding his face in his hands. He is a deep, dark blue, and he has misty white eyes. They don't look like blind eyes, though, it looks more like soft, pure snow.

"Who are you, ooyo?" he tries again, tipping his head to the side in curiosity. He has a bit of a strange accent, but that is mostly hidden by childhood's sweet perkiness.

I don't know how to answer, so I turn the conversation to him. "What's your name?"

He seems to pout. "No name yet, ooyo." Then he grins. "Mommy calls me 'Little Boy Blue!" he nods matter-of-factly. He's an adorable little kid, whoever he is. "Are you a hero?" he asks, eyes growing wide in excitement. He grabs a twig, which he jabs at the air proudly. "I'm gonna be a hero someday, ooyo!" He then tumbles off his Warp Star onto the ground, unhurt but embarrassed.

I giggle, this child is so sweet and innocent. "I think I'm a hero, but I can't remember."

His eyes grow even wider. "Ambrosia!"

"I think it's 'amnesia,' not 'ambrosia,'" I laugh. "And my name is..." I pause, trying really hard to remember.

One thing comes back to me: someone saying, "It is from the language of the Ancients, and it means... blossom." I can't remember what the voice who spoke it sounds like, but it's a start. Question is, what kind of blossom? Orange blossom? Apple blossom? Potato blossom?

"Blossom," I finally answer the kid. "My name's Blossom."

"Blossom, ooyo!" he shouts excitedly. "Blossom the hero, ooyo!"

Grinning, which is a nice thing to be able to do, I reply, "That's about right, Blue."

He looks around as if to make sure no one is watching, then asks me, "Can you train me, ooyo? So I can be a hero too, ooyo?"

I think for a minute, then nod. "Okay. Come back tomorrow. Right now I need to find a place to stay. I'm new here."

He grins, then grabs my hand and leads me to an old building not far away from the stream. "Old library, ooyo. Still has books, but no one cares about it. I love books, ooyo." He seems almost sad.

I pat his head. "Well, then, I'll care for it. It's as good a place to stay as any." He giggles, happy simply because I'm happy.

Soon, 'Blue,' as I've decided to call him, goes home. I clean the old library, finding a couple of old swords in the process. Good, I'm not unarmed anymore. Strangely, they're not rusty, but I'm not too concerned with that. One of them is much smaller than the other, it's as if someone was expecting me to come here and train a child. I shake my head, again, I'm not that worried about it.

Once I'm done with my cleaning, I then for some reason decide to spend the night sleeping in a shelf.

"So, this is the next chapter of the story. Both for me, and for this old place," I muse, then my eyes droop closed again. It's a bit early to go to bed, but I am _so_ tired. Turning in early won't hurt me.

I feel excited and hopeful. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

_Kirby, Sakura, Meta Knight, and Bandana Dee will return in "Heroes of Dreamland, Book 2: Kirby and the Returning Darkness."_


End file.
